The county commission is dealing with problem roads and is in the process of hiring a new member of the road and bridge crew this week. Road 159 near Denver has bad road conditions including water crossing the road, a bad grade, and rock going off into the ditch shortly after being put on. Raymond McElvain ordered some emergency rock for that road and Road & Bridge Supervisor Jim Fletchall will take a look and see what needs to be done. If the road goes into city limits, Fletchall said that would not be a problem since the county has delivered emergency rock to city streets in Denver before.
Commissioners lined up last-minute details of the Sesquicentennial Celebration.
Steve Matthews opened a road north of Road 266 that had been abandoned for the last 10 years. Fletchall thought that it would need a tube, but it does not. Road 266 is the road that links routes T and O north of Allendale near the state line. The county will now maintain it like any other road.
County Clerk Roberta Owens explained the difference between abandoned and closed roads. An abandoned road is one that the county no longer maintains because they are no longer able to get to it because of brush and weeds. A closed road is one that is closed through a formal legal process which includes letters to landowners, a process involving public input, and action properly recorded by the county; it is a lengthy legal process. Even though a road may have been abandoned, the county still owns an abandoned road. Part of the reason for the brush ordinance was to prevent the county from having to abandon any more roads because they can't get to them with their equipment. No formal records are normally kept in the event of a road becoming abandoned by the county.
The county received a complaint about Road 242 being left off the Special Rock program; that road is on a list of roads to be reviewed by the county and that could become eligible as determined by Fletchall and commissioners.
The road and bridge crew ditched the wrong side of Steve Groven's road and Groven had to fix the road up again. The road also needs mulching along the side as well. A big culvert along Road 27 south of Sheridan is giving out badly and needs a new tube in it.
Emergency Management Director Pat Kobbe reported that the state has cleared out all disaster work for 2007 subject to auditing by the state. Following the successful completion of the audit, money that is currently tied up from the 2007 disaster can be used by the county.
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