By Cynthia Grau/WJEZ News

The Pontiac City Council met Monday night and discussed upcoming work within the City.

The first thing that Mayor Bob Russell talked about during Tuesday morning’s Community Forum was the state of disrepair this rough winter has left roads.

“The one thing that has really been an issue this year is the condition of our streets and the potholes. The weather conditions with the hard freeze then a quick thaw at 70 degrees then all the rain, it just tore the streets to pieces. And the interstates – the ramp getting on to 55 almost fell apart. Our crews have been out … they patch it one day then they often have to patch it again the next day, because the change in the temperature so fast then the heavy rains really plays havoc on our streets. This year is about as bad as it’s been,” Russell said.

Russell also talked about replacing the City’s phone systems through existing high-speed internet, which is expected to save money through the years.

“Several years ago, we got hooked up with a group called CIRBN. It’s a high speed broadband network and we were able to get it run to Pontiac. Initially, it was only available for businesses and municipalities. Having that now in place, we’ve been working on a proposal to replace all of our phone systems. They will now go through the internet. The good news is we will save about $30,000 a year and that’s major in this economy right now. By having that brought in several years ago, we’re going to notice a big savings. This year, we have to buy all the equipment, so there’s not a savings this year, but from here out, we’ll have quite a savings on our phone system,” Russell said.

Russell was a guest on a recent Community Forum, which can be found at WJEZ.com.