Dearborn Will Drop Contract With Brock Sweeping for Road Cleanup

The Dearborn Department of Public Works announced this week that it plans to terminate its relationship with the Wyandotte-based Brock Sweeping once the city's contract expires on June 30.

DPW Director Jim Murray told Mayor John B. O'Reilly, Jr. and members of the city council that the company has not performed to the city's standards since it was awarded the two-year contract in June 2011.

"Street sweeping is an issue that is near and dear to all of our hearts. We learned a lot from the first couple of years of working with Brock," Murray told the council at a budget planning session on May 15.

Murray said while the company had excellent references from other communities, Dearborn is the only one of Brock's clients that requests 10 sweeps a year.

"Other communities generally ask for three sweeps a year," he said. "Brock wasn't prepared to handle our workload."

As a result, Murray said the DPW received several complaints from residents that lines of trash and debris would be left in the streets or pile up in high traffic areas such as the intersection at Ford Road and Telegraph, and Cherry Hill and Outer Drive.

In response, Murray said the DPW has drafted a revised agreement that it put out for bid last week.

"We expect bids back by the end of the month in order to bring our recommendation to the city council in time for work to begin at the end of July," he said.

Murray said language in the agreement will specifically require crews to sweep the entire city once every two weeks. The sweeping schedule will include two sweeps in May, two in October, one in December, and once a month in local neighborhoods during the summer months.

In addition, the contractor will have to provide a list of equipment to the DPW and agree to on-site inspections as well as provide six water or dust-less machines.

"This last contractor we relied on all the references in making our decision. We were not satisfied with the sweeping that was done this year as well as some of the equipment they put on the streets," Murray said.

Due to the changes, the DPW is projecting the cost for street sweeping to go up 10 to 20 percent, he said.

Currently the city pays $551,000 ($275,500 annually) for its contract with Brock Sweeping. In the past, the DPW used its own sweepers. As the need for service increased, however, Murray said the city was paying close to $500,000 a year.

"We just can't compete with the price private companies are able to quote us," he said.

Ticket blitz during Public Service Days

Mayor John O'Reilly said the city continues to deal with motorists who ignore the seasonal Public Service Days ordinance.

During Public Service Days, the city provides services, such as sewer maintenance, in neighborhoods. As a result, residents should not park vehicles on the street from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on their trash day.

"Even though we made it clear that Public Service Days are from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., people have started putting their cars back on the road before then, so for the rest of this year we're going to blitz the week before sweepers come and and ticket everybody who's not parked where they should be just to get their attention," O'Reilly said.

"We'll do two passes per neighborhood with our ordinance officers on Public Service Days so people are really focused on the fact that their cars need to stay off the street until at least 4 p.m.," he said.

Murray said with vehicles off the road during Public Service Days, DPW crews are able to work faster and more efficiently with tree trimming, stump removal, mosquito control, and catch basin cleaning.

"We've decreased our staff by 50 percent but we're still able to do as much as we were five years ago with the cooperation of our residents," he said.

Public Service Days continue through Nov. 30.