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When a small army of road crews left the city’s public works yard, the “hot box” of fresh asphalt in each municipal truck was full and the workers had a list of potholes needing repair.

At the end of the day, the asphalt was gone and workers confirmed their roads had been fixed.

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Sixteen of those city work crews, however, were secretly followed by private investigators armed with video cameras and access to GPS tracking devices on the trucks one day in October.

The result of the covert surveillance was unveiled by the city Monday: Almost all those monitored were fired —29 unionized employees, with another two suspended without pay — accused of drawing a day’s pay for, in some cases, just minutes of actual work.

The workers are accused of spending the day in coffee shops, bars, at their homes and running personal errands.

They weren’t patching roads, they would go and do personal things

“They weren’t patching roads, they would go and do personal things,” said Lloyd Ferguson, chairman of the public works committee.