5 On Your Side Investigators are drawing strong reaction after our exclusive video showing questionable road repairs by a city of Cleveland road crew.We talked to council members on the key committee that oversees streets and they are questioning pothole crew training.
"He's blowing out some of the potholes, which is what he's supposed to do,” we mentioned as we showed Cleveland City Councilwoman Dona Brady the video.
On it, you can see a Cleveland road crew that had an opportunity to blow out water from all of the potholes before laying down the patching, but it did not do so.
"Wow!” said Brady.
“What do you think of that?” we asked.
“Yes, I don't think that's a proper way to fill a pothole,” Brady told us with a bit of a laugh.
Clevelanders have also said it's obvious that's not the way to repair holes in the road. "Taxpayers are paying for all this and they're not even doing what they're supposed to be doing," said James Manak in a previous interview done by News 5.
"I've gotten my share of telephone calls recently about exactly that issue," said Brady.
News 5 has heard from Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson's office in the past that it watches over these repairs. "We hold our crews accountable and we hold the unit supervisors for the regions accountable for the quality of that product and that installation," said Cleveland’s Chief Operating Officer Darnell Brown.
What about the crew in the video? Are they being held accountable? We don't know.
The mayor's office has ignored our request to show them our video in person.
Meanwhile, Councilman Kenneth Johnson chairs the council's committee that oversees streets. The idea that crew members would not follow proper maintenance? "They obviously need some additional training,” said Johnson. "I will discuss it with the Director (of Public Works) and try and correct the problem. As a matter of fact, we'll go out and take a look ourselves," he added.
We have questioned pothole filling methods from overfilling, making a hole now a bump, to constant patching and questionable maintenance.
"It is a concern,” said Brady. “And it needs to be done right even if it is temporary, it must...it should be done right."
"Thanks for your story,” said Johnson. “It helps us."
Councilwoman Brady emphasized that with our current freeze-thaw weather, when you have water underneath the patching it will help break up the very patch that's supposed to smooth out our roads.
