[0:00] Hi, this is Edina city manager Scott [0:02] Neil and you're watching on the job. A [0:04] show where we take you behind the scenes [0:06] to introduce you to the city employees [0:07] that keep Edina going and show you some [0:09] things you can only learn on the job. [0:21] [Music] [0:34] [Music] [0:40] Welcome to the show. Today I'm coming to [0:42] you from the streets, really not the [0:44] streets, the sidewalks of Adina. And I [0:47] want to introduce you to somebody who's [0:48] very important to the sidewalks of [0:50] Adina. His name is Matt Batty. Hi Matt. [0:52] Good to meet good to see you again. [0:53] Nice to see you again. Matt works is a [0:55] maintenance worker in in a in our [0:57] concrete streets division of our public [0:59] works department, but most importantly [1:01] for this show, he is our sidewalk guy. [1:04] Uh can you tell the audience a little [1:05] bit about what you do, Matt, for the [1:07] city? [1:07] My job for the city is primary sidewalks [1:10] ADA inspection. [1:11] I walk the sidewalks. Um, I use a [1:13] program now and we go through and it [1:15] evaluates all the any imperfections of [1:18] the sidewalk, whether it be cross slopes [1:20] or running slopes or [1:21] So, those are those are things that I [1:22] might trip over or something that's [1:24] tilted the wrong way. Is that right? [1:26] Correct. So, we're going to we're going [1:27] to you're going to show us how how all [1:29] that is done, right? But what what else [1:31] do you do for the city? Do you do this [1:32] is this your 100% job or do you have [1:34] other things that you do for us? [1:36] My main focus is the ADA part of the [1:38] sidewalks throughout the summer months. [1:40] In the winter time, I do uh plow the [1:42] sidewalks. I run a trackless machine. Um [1:45] I I love it. I love plowing snow. I love [1:47] watching people be able to get out and [1:49] use our use our sidewalks. [1:51] Yeah. Yeah. How how long have you worked [1:52] for us? [1:53] Uh I've been with the city of Adina for [1:55] 14 months. [1:56] For 14 months. So you you must have done [1:58] this work somewhere else, right? [2:00] Uh I come from a commercial world and [2:02] building highrises for 26 years. Oh boy. [2:04] So all I've ever known was concrete [2:05] work. [2:06] Okay. So we're going to see a little bit [2:07] of somebody else's concrete work. I I [2:09] guessing today, right? And and really [2:11] make this sidewalk better for the people [2:13] that use it. [2:14] Absolutely. [2:14] So, you've seen this show before? [2:16] Yes, I have. [2:16] And I I've been told you're a big fan. [2:19] I am. [2:19] Okay, great. And uh so we're going to [2:21] you're going to show me how that thing [2:23] works and how how it makes the sidewalk [2:25] better for everybody. [2:26] Correct. [2:26] All right, let's get to it. [2:28] So, the first thing we're going to do is [2:29] open up this uh app we have and it's [2:32] called Deep Walk. [2:32] So, what are we what are we seeing? Are [2:35] we're just seeing what's what's on the [2:36] street here right now. Right now, we're [2:38] just doing the we're just looking at the [2:40] sidewalk with it. So, it has a LAR [2:42] camera with this. As we start walking, [2:45] yeah, [2:45] you'll see the green dots. [2:46] Yeah. Yeah. Okay. What does that mean? [2:48] And all those green dots are [2:49] representing a point on the sidewalk, [2:51] whether it be height, [2:52] distance, cross slope. So, if this [2:54] side's a 8 inch higher than this, those [2:56] green dots are letting us know without [2:58] without us having to uh physically put [3:00] down a level anymore, okay? [3:02] And measure it. And so, yeah, we just [3:04] keep walking and it as long as we're [3:06] getting both sides in. and you're [3:07] welcome to hold it. And we just keep the [3:09] sidewalk in the frame. And as we're [3:12] doing that, it's just showing us every [3:14] little point. Uh it's not giving us the [3:16] data yet, but it's it's recording the [3:17] data where we can have it. [3:18] Okay. Okay. Come back here now. So, [3:21] right where you had maybe shaved it [3:23] before. [3:24] We haven't shaved that before. We [3:25] haven't shaved. [3:26] No. But that's coming up and it's giving [3:28] us a lot of a lot of extra green dots [3:30] because it's showing all the [3:31] discrepancies there. So, it has to shoot [3:33] a bunch more spots to let us know each [3:35] individual height variance at that spot. [3:38] So, Matt, you've done you you've got [3:40] this picture, you've got the [3:41] information. What do you take out a can [3:44] of paint and paint that or [3:45] I would I would take this as we're [3:47] walking. I would be marking the trip [3:49] hazards. Um the cross slopes and [3:51] everything are kind of a little bit more [3:52] difficult because we do send this [3:53] information away to Deep Walk itself and [3:56] they send us back as a detailed scan uh [3:59] into color basically. Um, black being [4:01] the worst, yellow being the least [4:03] affected, and green being perfect. Okay. [4:05] Um, it's very hard to get perfect on a [4:08] old infrastructure. Yeah. Um, but we go [4:11] through and we utilize the different [4:12] colors. Uh, so we can utilize our budget [4:15] the best. So, we start out when I get [4:16] get the data back, it pops up all the [4:18] blacks and so I know there's severe [4:20] cross slopes, running slopes, or trip [4:22] hazards. So, I would go through and I [4:24] would mark them and I would come out and [4:25] I would focus on that first. I would [4:28] finish those projects and then I would [4:29] move on to the reds and then I get the [4:31] reds done and then we work our way down [4:33] to the least affected. [4:34] And Matt, what are the factors that make [4:37] a sidewalk heave or get out? Is it just [4:40] poor construction? Is it poor materials? [4:42] Is it trees? What what causes problems [4:45] for our sidewalk system? [4:47] The major issue for the sidewalks is [4:49] tree roots. Um you can't stop trees. [4:52] They grow roots. roots find little spots [4:54] and they get underneath everything and [4:56] as they grow they heave it up. [4:58] All right. You know what needs to be [4:59] fixed here, right? [5:01] Correct. [5:01] And you said you've seen the show [5:03] before. So, this is where you show me [5:05] how to fix this. [5:06] Copy. [5:07] All right. [5:07] Absolutely. [5:08] Let's do it. [5:09] [Music] [5:11] So, Scott, the first thing we're going [5:12] to do is put some ear plugs in. [5:14] Oh, yeah. [5:14] Cuz it's loud. [5:16] All right. I'm ready. [5:17] Okay. [5:21] All right. Scott, what we're going to do [5:22] is just wheel this up here. [5:25] And we always want to start on the high [5:27] side of it. Scott, we'll just kind of [5:29] turn the machine like this. Oh, and [5:32] we'll line it up just like that, [5:33] brother. I'll start it up for you. All [5:35] right. [5:37] Here's our throttle. We'll make it go [5:39] fast. [5:41] So, this is your lever to bring it down, [5:43] Scott. Push it all the way down. [5:48] Now, this is up and down. So, while [5:51] we're right here, we're going to back it [5:52] up just a touch. Like right there where [5:54] it lines up. We're going to drop it down [5:56] just a little bit until you start to [5:58] hear it [6:00] drop. It's dropping it right now. So, [6:02] now you slowly want to go back. [6:10] Go back about a foot. See how it went [6:12] out and stop [6:19] doing [6:22] it back and forth as you do it. [6:26] And it's doing a really great job with [6:28] that. [6:30] All right. [6:34] [Music] [6:40] [Applause] [6:40] [Music] [6:45] [Applause] [6:54] Yeah, [6:56] I don't think you should have to do this [6:57] more than 10, 15 minutes a day. [7:00] You get a workout, Scott. When I try I [7:03] try to get 15 spots a day minimum. Um, [7:07] but there's been days where I've got 20 [7:09] spots. Um, I'll go back and I'll take [7:11] care of the rest of it. Uh, but as you [7:13] can see, we already eliminated 90% of [7:16] the trip hazard where you can now [7:18] anybody can walk over that without [7:20] worrying about it. [7:20] So, so Matt, I've noticed that as you've [7:22] been doing this, you've been using your [7:23] foot to you got a good feel as a [7:26] professional in this field about what's [7:28] a quarter of an inch and what's a/ an [7:29] inch and what's just fine? [7:30] I do. Um um I I come from a family where [7:34] a little bit of disability in my family [7:36] um and so I look a lot everything I do [7:39] um is if someone was walking and had [7:41] some sort of issue with it Scott [7:43] and so I just I know when I go by and I [7:46] drag my foot if I if it if I can't move [7:49] my foot it's a it's an issue you know. [7:51] So the other thing I noticed when I was [7:53] doing this is I expected it to be a lot [7:54] messier right dust and rocks flying all [7:58] over the place. So, how come that [7:59] doesn't How come that's not that way? [8:01] Uh, we have a super sweet vacuum. Um, [8:03] the city purchases vacuum this year with [8:05] this grinding setup, so we can do it in [8:07] house. But that vacuum takes care of all [8:09] the dust and debris that pops up, making [8:11] it safe for bystanders and for myself. [8:14] Um, it just sucks it up and it puts it [8:16] into a little bag and I can throw the [8:17] bag away without any without any [8:20] touching any dust. [8:20] So, it's not shooting all over you. It's [8:22] not shooting all over the neighbor's [8:23] yard. [8:24] Correct. Correct. Well, listen, Matt, [8:26] this has been uh this has been a lot of [8:28] fun to learn this, right? I knew you [8:30] were out here doing this kind of work. [8:31] It's something that's really important [8:33] to the community when you think of uh [8:35] the various people that it affects. [8:37] Little kids and strollers and people [8:39] that have some kind of walking [8:40] disability. Correct. [8:42] This enables them to enjoy this [8:43] community. So, that's really a noble [8:45] calling. So, I want to thank you for [8:47] what you do for the city. [8:48] Well, I appreciate you coming out and [8:49] taking a peek at what I do, Scott. [8:50] Gotcha. You've been watching On the Job, [8:52] a show that takes you behind the scenes [8:54] to introduce you to the city employees [8:55] that keep it on going and show you some [8:57] things you can only learn on the job. [9:09] [Music] [9:09] [Applause] [9:14] [Music] [9:18] You know, I noticed that looks a lot [9:20] like when you tried to mow a golf green. [9:23] I know. I thought I thought the same [9:25] thing. [9:28] Although it's supposed to look like that [9:30] here. [9:30] Yeah.