County ready to wash its hands of sign work

BY BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

Henry County supervisors said Tuesday that they would prefer not to be in the sign installation business.

The supervisors were responding to an inquiry from Henry County Engineer Jake Hotchkiss. Hotchkiss said he had been approached by the Henry County Preservation Committee about erecting more preservation signs (i.e. brown signs with white lettering announcing historic sites) to the county.

In the past, the committee has paid for the signs and the county installed them at its cost. Hotchkiss said the committee wanted to place about a dozen more signs.

?It takes time (to install the signs),? Hotchkiss said. ?I feel like they should pay for the sign, the post and installation.?

He said the county had three options in the matter ? erecting the signs out of the county right-of-way; having the group apply for a permit (outside of the county right-of-way) and install the sign at its cost; or if the county installs the sign, the committee pays all the costs.

?My opinion is (having them installed) outside of the right-of-way is best,? the engineer remarked. ?My concern is how much writing is on the sign. I don?t have a problem with installation if I am getting 100 percent payment (of the installation cost).?

Supervisors said they would prefer having the signs installed outside the right-of-way and have the committee pay all costs associated with erecting the signs.

Although supervisors said they didn?t want to be in the sign business, they were in the real-estate business, selling county-owned, but unused, streets and alleys in the unincorporated towns of Lowell, Swedesburg and Trenton.

Michelle Hummel purchased one of the parcels in Lowell with a bid of $75 and the Lowell Baptist Church paid $60 for the other parcel.

Jeff Ward purchased all three parcels on the sale bill in Swedesburg for $825.

Yvonne Rich is the new owner of the four parcels of land in Trenton with a bid of $600.

Concerning construction projects, Hotchkiss said the Ash Avenue bridge replacement work is finished and the road was to have been opened to traffic yesterday afternoon.

The contractor is working on culvert footings and plans to have the culvert poured on Hickory Avenue by the end of the week. A stretch of 140th Street could be closed next week, the engineer stated, for culvert replacement.

He said he is still working with the city regarding one mile of reconstruction of 220th Street (Winfield Avenue) from Grand Avenue to the U.S. Highway 218 overpass. Hotchkiss anticipates a 60-40 cost split on the work with the county paying 60 percent of the tab. The project is scheduled for next summer.

It will be part of the city?s largest road construction project ? the reconstruction of Winfield Avenue ? next summer.

Work by the county secondary roads department last week included hauling resurfacing rock to numerous locations; continuing a seeding operation on 150th Street; beginning work on replacing an entrance on W55 (Franklin Avenue) near Wayland; and installing entrances at various locations southwest of Mt. Pleasant.

Supervisors meet again Thursday at 9 a.m., in the Henry County Courthouse.