On-call City of Ottawa workers log thousands of kilometres to scrape up roadkill

On-call municipal workers are driving City of Ottawa vehicles homeat night to towns as far away as Alcove, Que., and Renfrew, Ont., so that they'll beavailable to respond to such "emergencies" as collectingdead animals, trimming long grass and emptying overflowing trash bins, CBC News has learned.

• BY THE NUMBERS | After-hours use of City of Ottawa vehicles

Using gas paid for by taxpayers, more than 250 employees logged nearly half a million kilometres in one year commuting between work and home in city vehicles. That's enough mileageto circle the globea dozen times.

It's a concern because obviously that has a huge cost to the taxpayer to cover the mileage.- Coun. Allan Hubley

"It's a concern becauseobviouslythat has a huge cost to the taxpayer to cover the mileage to and from those locations, the wear and tear on those vehicles," said Coun. AllanHubley, chair of thecity's audit committee.

As CBC News reported earlier this year, certain employees are allowed to drive work vehicles home so they can respond quickly to after-hours emergencies.

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"Having a city truck two hours outside the city coming in to pick up a dead skunk on the road is not efficient," saidHubley.

CBC Newsanalyzedhundreds of pages of city records obtained under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

The data shows more than 250 workers with nine different departments took fleet vehicles home between March 2015 and March2016.

More than half of those workers were with the city's roadservices branch. One vehicle sat parked at a home inRenfrew, Ont.,another inPlantagenet, Ont.

Roadkillcollection tops after-hours calls

The documents show the most common after-hours job for staff with the city's road services branch is shovelling up dead animals, accounting for 580 of the 2,003 calls logged over the 12 months in question. Another 447 calls were to remove debris and litter from roadways, including branches, ladders and couches.

Hubleyagreed some calls need to be answered immediately.

"The road kill calls can be little Suzy's beautiful kitten got run over. You don't want to leave that on the road," saidHubley."That's going to be very traumatic for families in thearea. So you need to go out there and get that. You're not going to leave it untilrush hour the next morning."

However he questioned whether employees who live so far outside the city should be allowed to drive work trucks home, suggesting instead that supervisors be called in, or that the city require on-call workers to pick up municipal vehicles at a city yard.

'Turf issues'

Employees with the city's parks, buildings and grounds department appear to be some of the farthest-flung, driving vehicles home to such destinations as Alcove, Que., and Lefaivre, Ont.

The top call for that department falls under the topic of "turf issues" on-call staff drove in426 times to deal with long grass and weeds, pick up debris and patch up holes in the ground. Emptying overflowing trash bins accounted for the second-largest volume of calls.

In Marchthe city treasurer told CBCthe municipality can't discriminate against workers based on where they live. The policy dictates on-call employees must be able to respond to an emergency within an hour, wherever they happen to live.

City reviewing fleet policies

According to calculations derived fromcity estimates, on-call employees burned about$80,000 worth of gas driving fleet vehiclesbetween their homes and job sites over the year in question.That figure does notinclude the cost of wear and tear or maintenance on the vehicles.

The city has said it's not a freebie for employees since they have to report their mileage for personal use as a taxable benefit.

The city said it's currently studying its fleet policies, including after-hours use.

The city is "reviewing what is deemed to be an emergency and whether some work can be assigned to regular crews during regular working hours," Kevin Wylie, the city's general manager of public works, told CBC News in a statement.

"For example, in some cases dead animals may be a risk to drivers who may swerve to avoid running them over. In other cases, the location of the animal may not pose a risk," he added.

Wylie also said the city plans to look into whether it would be cheaper for on-call employees to pick up vehicles at city yards rather than taking them home.