Henry County to start slide repair project in late August

MT. PLEASANT - The Henry County Board of Supervisors approved an upcoming engineering and road department project on Tuesday morning.

County Engineer Jake Hotchkiss provided an update to the board on county construction, maintenance and permits, including a ditching project outside of Benton as well as a resurfacing project in Salem on Monday.

The engineer presented construction plans for a slide repair project by Big Creek County Park, which will be partially funded by the National Resources Conservation Service. The agency will be paying for 75 percent of up to $61,000 for the project. Hotchkiss expects the repairs to begin in late August.

'Big Creek is starting to encroach into the county right-of-way with the bank and it's taking material away,” he said.

'We're going to be … stabilizing the crick bank and restabilizing the top side with some dirt. It's not a noticeable change except we're trying to stop the crick from coming more toward the road.”

Hotchkiss added it would have taken several years for the crick to have reached the road but the project would be a good preventive measure.

The engineer presented an agreement for Iowa's Volkswagen Settlement Environmental Mitigation Trust project. Hotchkiss explained his department applied for grants the previous year with the state's Department of Transportation and received approximately $30,000. The project aims to lower emissions by helping departments replace equipment. This will be the second year the department has received funding from the project.

'Last year we purchased a single axle truck and replaced an axle truck. This time we will be replacing a single axle truck with a tandem,” Hotchkiss said.

The supervisors approved both the construction plans and the project agreement.