City accepts contractor’s offer to install lights in school zones

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This article was published 04/09/2019 (1842 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A local electrician’s travels across Canada sparked an idea city administrators will use to light the way toward safer school zones.

Officials said Wednesday the City of Winnipeg has accepted Chuck Lewis’s offer to purchase and install solar-powered, flashing amber warning lights at speed-reduced school zones.

The initial plan is to install the lights at two schools in high-risk traffic areas; if successful, they will be expanded to locations across the city.

“Every province I went to, I noticed that every school had flashing beams (at school zones). In northern B.C., they had flashing beams, right through Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario… So when I came back to Winnipeg, I thought, ‘Well, why not?’” Lewis, general manager of Expert Electric in the Silver Heights area, said Wednesday.

His observation led to his own lightbulb moment: four years ago, Lewis bought some beacon lights and tried to get city officials to allow him to install them near schools, at his own expense.

The lights can be programmed so they only flash during school hours; they would cost about $6,000 per school, Lewis estimated. It was a price he was more than willing to pay after witnessing vehicle-pedestrian school-zone close calls.

“What is a kid’s life worth? Can you put a price tag on it?” he said.

Lewis said he had offered to supply and maintain the lights as an electrical contractor, but he didn’t have the time to attend meetings and lobby city officials.

“We got shot down pretty good,” he recalled. “I don’t want to be the guy fighting city hall. I don’t want to be the guy fighting the mayor. I don’t want to be that guy.”

Earlier this year, Coun. Kevin Klein (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood) took up the fight.

Klein said he initially raised Lewis’s offer with the public works department as a pilot project, but officials told him they weren’t interested. Klein then took it to the property and development committee (he is a member), as that committee is tasked with considering gifts from the public.

David Patman, the city’s transportation manager, said a formal legal agreement has to be drafted and agreed upon before the lights will be installed.

Patman told councillors on the property and development committee Wednesday the city has accepted the offer, but the administration needs to be assured the lights comply with regulatory standards and the city is not exposed to any liability.

The city’s proposal asks Lewis to maintain the lights for a minimum of 10 years; Lewis said his initial offer was for five years. Lewis said he had not yet been contacted with a formal agreement.

“We don’t want to be offered a gift that will have issues for the city or will create a maintenance headache,” Patman said. “There are just details to be worked out. We want to make sure we have that in writing.”

Patman said two systems will be installed initially, to ensure they meet expectations, but once the test period is completed, the lights will be installed at all speed-reduced school zones “quickly.”

Klein said he was frustrated at how difficult it’s been for the city to accept the offer.

“It seemed ridiculous to me, because this is a good opportunity to work with residents because, if it’s about safety, it helps.”

The committee directed the administration to bring back a signed agreement with Lewis for its next meeting, Sept. 30.

Klein said he wants to see the lights system installed across the city before the snow falls.

— with files from Katie May

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca