It comes after roads bosses were given an extra £800,000 to try and address long awaited repairs across Dumfries and Galloway.
A large slice of the cash is going on ten more temporary roads operatives, who will be in place until March 2024, writes Marc Mclean.
Another round of advertising and interviews are being lined up to ensure that all posts are filled – which was a concern for Annandale North Councillor Gail Macgregor.
Speaking at the communities committee on Tuesday, she said: “How confident are we that we’ll be able to recruit? I’m aware that we have a regional lack of skills in certain areas, and would just like some confidence that we will be able to get staff into those roles.”
Council officer Stephen Hall replied: “We’re in the process, in the next couple of days, of giving initial offers to a number of candidates.
“We did get more applications than there are posts. Not all the applicants met the necessary criteria, so we will be going back out again.
“But we’ve seen a really good, positive level of interest. It’s just now assessing whether those people have the right skillsets that we need in order to be really productive.”
With the state of the region’s roads one of the biggest complaints from residents, councillors unanimously welcomed the move.
An annual report on the condition of the roads was tabled, which included the results of a survey carried out between July and October. It gave residents the opportunity to share their views on the roads and transport service.
A total of 1527 people completed it, with 1420 of them (93 per cent) stating that they were either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the condition of the roads maintained by Dumfries and Galloway Council.
