Engineer says jackhammers beginning to hum in county

By MEGAN COOPER

Mt. Pleasant News

Construction work is starting to pick up for the Henry County Secondary Roads Department, as the weather gets warmer.

?We had a light week last week,? said Henry County Engineer Jake Hotchkiss during his weekly report to the board during the Henry County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday. ?I do have two permits that need approved. One is for a gentleman to work in our right-of-way to clear out some boulders that have fallen on old Highway 34.

?He asked if he could use these as decoration, obtained approval from the landowner and so I don?t see any problems with him doing that. He will need a permit to work in our right-of-way, though, and will need to make sure he doesn?t do any damage, but I don?t see any issues,? explained Hotchkiss.

The second permit brought before the board was for a sanitary sewer outlet on Salem Road, east of Highway 218.

?I looked at everything and it looks fine,? said Hotchkiss.

The board approved both of the permits.

Following the approval of the permits, the engineer discussed the work that was completed last week around the county.

?We had the territory operators out and they were blading all week,? said Hotchkiss. ?We did some work on erosion control in the stream off of 312th Street. We hauled rock from the quarry to stabilize the bank.?

According to the engineer, there was also work on crossroad pipes to make them drain better, small crews working on seeding and work on the retention pond behind their facility.

?We added some crossroad pipes to the retention pond at the very southern part of the property,? said Hotchkiss. ?We are done with that for now until the shed is completed.?

The engineer reminded the board of the closure of Oasis Avenue due to the construction on the bridge.

?The contractor was in there and got their equipment moved in. They will begin working on removing the bridge,? said Hotchkiss. ?Then we will be staking out the new bridge.?

Clayton Avenue (south) will be closed Wednesday, April 23, due to work on the cattle crossing.

?We are going to be removing the old cattle crossing and putting in crossroad pipes. The cattle crossing is no use now,? explained Hotchkiss. ?It?s worn out and the road will be closed the entire day. We are going to wait for the school bus to finish up before starting in the morning, and then get to work. Our goal is to have it finished by the evening, at least passable, and finish Thursday if needed. This is our first big pipe project of the year.?

In board sub-committee news, vice-chairman Greg Moeller shared information on the upcoming Stewards of Children program. It is a child sexual abuse training that will take place on Wednesday, April 30, in the Henry County extension office. There will be two trainings, one from 8 to 10 a.m. and the other from 6 to 8 p.m.

Registration is not required and the training is open and free to the public. The intent of this program is to develop knowledge, skills and resources to reduce risk.

For more information, contact Arin Jones at 319-383-8126 or arinj@iastate.edu.

The Henry County Board of Supervisors will meet again in regular session on Thursday, April 24, at 9 a.m. in the board room at the courthouse.