Toronto’s 50 state-of-the-art street sweepers are in rough shape, causing both financial and air quality problems for the city, a Star investigation reveals.

Repeated internal warnings have been ignored over the past four years, according to city insiders and documents. A top city official said Friday that the city is aware of the situation and efforts to fix it are underway.

“It needs to be looked at,” said Fleet Services division head Lloyd Brierly when presented with the Star’s findings. “There is definitely an opportunity for improvement.”

The big machines — in top condition they are like comparing a Dyson vacuum to a broom — are so rundown they have recently been spotted around Toronto spewing plumes of dust on the Gardiner Expressway and throwing leaves and dirt onto sidewalks. When the Gardiner was closed for maintenance just over a week ago, three machines were seen struggling to remove dust and dirt, but instead were firing debris out all sides and clouds of dust into the air. A local radio producer saw something similar on a residential street and posted a video on YouTube.

Brierly, who joined the city a year ago, said he wants to improve the situation but has “nobody out in the field watching (the sweepers) work” and so does not know the extent of the problem.

The city auditor is investigating and has been since 2012.

The auditor’s concern, sources say, is twofold: taxpayers will have to pay more to repair the damaged machines and also air quality in the city is suffering because the machines are not doing the job they were intended to do.

One of the issues, according to city documents and sources, is the awarding of a contract for aftermarket parts and parts management for all city machines to a giant vendor as part of a sole-source deal approved by city Councillors Doug Ford (open Doug Ford's poilcard), Paul Ainslie (open Paul Ainslie's poilcard), John Filion (open John Filion's poilcard) and Vincent Crisanti (open Vincent Crisanti's poilcard). The lone dissenting voice at that meeting was Councillor Pam McConnell (open Pam McConnell's poilcard), who warned that the city could be making a “$25-million mistake.” That’s the rounded-up price of the five-year contract to manage and supply parts for all city cars and machines, including the street sweepers.

City auditor reports note that high-end machines like the street sweepers need manufacturer parts and specialized care.

The story begins in 2006 with a decision by the City of Toronto to purchase state of the art Tymco “dustless” street sweepers in an attempt to remove dirt and debris, especially fine particles kicked up by increasing road traffic, from Toronto streets. City documents show that extensive testing determined the Texas-made machines, costing just under $300,000 apiece, were far and away the best product on the market. Fifty machines were purchased at a total cost of $15 million.

The program, which Toronto was lauded for internationally, is called Clean Roads to Clean Air. Experts have determined that the removal of 80 per cent of “fine road dust” can improve air quality by about 30 per cent. The Tymco machine, working properly, can remove up to 92 per cent of fine road dust.

The city’s report to council attributes respiratory and cardiovascular problems and premature deaths to poor air quality. This fine dust originates from traffic friction — asphalt, rubber tires, brake pads and other vehicle debris.

Unlike conventional “broom” sweepers that used to patrol Toronto streets, city documents state the Tymco machines use a “regenerative air technology” that blasts air on the pavement, then sucks almost all of the debris and dust immediately. Old-style machines blasted water on the pavement, which often caused dirt to stick in cracks.

A city auditor report noted the importance of “the removal of fine road dust from road surfaces and (reducing) debris from being washed into the catch basin and sewer system.”

The auditor noted “there was a significant increase in tonnage of material removed from city streets subsequent to the purchase of the Tymco sweepers.”

City documents show that the Tymcos sucked up twice the amount of dirt and debris as the predecessor machines. By 2008 and 2009, city records show about 18,000 tonnes were being swept up each year.

But in 2010 that changed. City records show the tonnages began to decrease dramatically. They reached an annual low of 7,857 tonnes in 2012. In 2013 the sweepers picked up 14,070 tonnes, the first improvement in years, though city documents show sweepers continued to have serious maintenance issues that year. A spokesman for the city also noted that weather patterns in a given year have an impact on the amount of debris picked up.

Insiders (the Star has interviewed three with knowledge of the Tymco program) say the problems can be traced to infrequent servicing and, when servicing was done, to the use of aftermarket parts not made specifically for the Tymcos. The Star has reviewed recent photographs of the inner workings of several machines that show engine filters and vacuum filters heavily clogged. As a result, the machines’ state-of-the-art suction technology simply does not work.

According to city documents, including audit reports, city workers complained to their bosses that aftermarket parts and poor servicing were damaging the machines. Though the original plan was to only use Tymco parts on Tymco machines, the auditor notes that has not been happening.

City workers also complained that routine “preventative maintenance” was not being carried out, city reports show.

For example, the machines are to be serviced every two months. The auditor found examples of a seven-month period passing with no service carried out.

Daily maintenance was also not being done. “Mechanic notations on several work orders describe operator negligence and inadequate daily maintenance procedures by operators as factors resulting in damage,” the auditor wrote in a 2013 report.

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The Tymco street-sweeper issue is connected to a City of Toronto plan to outsource the parts for all city cars, trucks and street sweepers. This plan began with many parts being outsourced as early as 2007 to UAP Inc. (Napa Auto Parts) and by 2012 the city’s government management committee voted 4-1 to completely outsource parts and also the servicing to UAP.

At the meeting (the Star has a recording of the proceedings) Doug Ford moved the motion for the sole-source contract and voted in favour of it, but said he was doing it “under duress.” The lone dissenting voice was Councillor Pam McConnell, who spoke passionately of how her father, a mechanic, understood the importance of keeping machines in excellent running order.

“It’s a $25-million project we are approving here and, if we are not 100 per cent sure of what we are doing, it could be a $25-million mistake,” McConnell told the committee.

The councillors heard a deputation from city union head Tim Maguire who brought to the committee’s attention a littany of concerns particularly related to outsourcing the street-sweeper parts.

After consulting with front-line staff, in the May 2012 meeting Maguire told the committee that: street-sweeper parts were taking up to a month to obtain; incorrect sweeper parts were often sent; mechanics were not allowed to contact the manufacturer; and delays in servicing the sweepers were leading to too much “down time.”

Ford told the committee that he has long been against sole-source contracts. He speculated on whether it would have made sense to have one contract for general parts and a second for the more specialized parts used in Tymco and other machines.

“You know I’ve been fighting this from the day I have been here,” Ford told the committee. “Every bone in my body disagrees with this.”

Ultimately, Ford said it would be too expensive to go back and redo the tender. “I am so reluctantly going to vote for this, due to pressure.”

UAP was awarded the five-year contract, with $21,083,525 covering the parts for all city machines, including the street sweepers, plus $3,541,231 for managing the city parts department.

The Star attempted to contact Ford, who is running for mayor, to get his thoughts on the decision to outsource. He did not respond to a request for an interview.

UAP’s Ontario manager, Tom Mondoux, said he “politely disagrees” with the city auditor’s reports. While he has heard that some city mechanics have complained about the “fit” of some of the UAP parts, he said “we provide top- quality parts at a reasonable price.”

Since the decision in 2012 to outsource all parts, the city auditor has carried out a detailed investigation and published reports in 2013 and an update in 2014 noting problems with the choice of parts and servicing of the street sweepers.

City manager Brierly said he is looking “to see if we have in place the right team in fleet services.”

Kevin Donovan can be reached at kdonovan@thestar.ca or (416) 312-3503

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