Ronnie Dannar came to the Worth County Commission meeting to discuss problems with the Route W detour that is on his road. Bridges along Route W are being replaced as part of the MODOT's Safe and Sound Program. Consequently, the road leading to Ronnie Dannar's home has seen a drastic increase in traffic and the school bus is using the Dannar Bridge to go around the construction. Dannar said that Monday morning, he counted 12 cars and the school bus going on his road, which he says will tear the road up. There were also three contractor trucks that used the road as well. The road is used as a detour route; however, the Dannar Bridge has already had problems with it that have been brought before the commission last year. The bridge has been fixed for the present, but Dannar said that the traffic level was a "100 fold increase" over his normal traffic load; he said that on a normal day, there were 12 cars or trucks on his road for the whole day.
Commissioners said that they have done all they could to get help from the DOT for their roads without success and that State Representative Mike Thomson had tried to talk to them as well without success. They asked for a low water crossing and help in repairing roads from the DOT without success. The road will be closed for 6-8 weeks until the new bridges are put in. In the mid-1980's, after pressure from residents, commissioners, and school officials, the MODOT put in low water crossings on Route 46 as they replaced the Middlefork and East Fork Bridges east of Grant City. The rationale from the DOT is that the bridges will be put in as quickly as possible so that disruption to traffic would be minimized, but Dannar said that they picked the worst time of the year to close Route W to traffic. Dannar said that he had spent $10,000 of his own money out of his pocketbook to bring that road into shape, including $5,800 just to bring the road up to shape and that he would now have to put in more to get it back to where it was after the MODOT was done.
Dannar said that the current arrangement was an accident waiting to happen; he said that on the hill just west of the bridge, if you meet a car popping out over the hill, "you don't have anywhere to go." He said that he saw a van hitting the bridge at 50 miles per hour. The speed limit on all county roads is 55; in order for the county to lower the speed limit, they would have to get signs to put on all the roads and then have the manpower to enforce such a speed limit. "Why does the DOT close the Sheridan barn and merge it with Grant City and they still don't have the money to fix our roads?" he asked.
The Dannar Bridge is a 10 ton bridge. Road and Bridge Foreman Jim Fletchall said that he had been contacted by the school bus driver about crossing the Dannar bridge; the bus does not have very many kids at that particular point of the route. Fletchall said that he had told her that it was OK for the school bus to cross as long as it didn't have very many kids on it. He said he thought that the state feared liability if they were to contribute towards counties putting on extra gravel and doing extra maintenance on detour routes.
State Senator Brad Lager came and met with commissioners. He said that there was no end in sight to the state budget cuts. He said that the region had weathered the higher gas prices as well as anyone in the region, but that it would take a real hit if gas prices were to go up to $4. Gas prices this week as reported by the commissioners were $3.429.
The Worth County Sesquicentennial Celebration will be held from June 24th to July 4th. It will include the Sheridan Old Defiance Day Celebrations from the 24th to the 27th as well as a fireworks show and Big Band concert on July 2nd and end in Allendale on the 4th.
Ernie Miller of Midwest Data came to discuss a road that leads to one of their towers. He said the company would donate $2,000 in services in return for the county fixing up the road and that another landowner had agreed to contribute some funds as well. Miller also inspected connections to equipment in the basement as well as the attic.
Pat Kobbe reported on the Incident Command Trailer. Radios were mounted and put in and a laminated county map will be placed in it. The county will get an antenna for one of the radios if Sheriff Terry Sheddrick does not have one. The commission agreed to spend $100 for needed equipment. The county is in the process of closing out work on the 2007 flooding; FEMA was in Grant City yesterday to inspect the Marvin Mercer tubes as well as David Hunt's road.
Barb Foland requested that the commissioners inspect her road.
County Clerk Roberta Owens reported that Ameristean had come and cleaned up the smoke damage from the Courthouse from the October Square Fire. Employees came and wiped off surfaces as well as cleaned up carpets.
Work continued on selection of board members for the EEZ board that will oversee the process. Commissioners are still in the process of putting together names of possible people for the board. The county approved funds to map the zone at a cost of around $150; Economic Developer Charity Austin said that selection would depend on who could do the job the quickest. The board would decide which part of the county would need to be excluded from the zone.
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