Supervisors support rural four-way stop

Washington County Engineer David Patterson recommended making a rural intersection a four-way stop at the Washington County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday. Patterson said the intersection of Hickory Avenue and 130

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Street a little more than a mile east of Wellman is dangerous.

?Right now the east-west traffic (on 130

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Street) does not stop,? Patterson said. ?The southbound traffic has to come up a pretty steep hill when it reaches the intersection. We?ve heard from some residents that there was an accident there last year. The residents say they can?t stop at the stop sign during the winter because they?ll slide backwards. The residents have to creep into the intersection.?

Patterson said the east-west traffic has difficulty seeing if someone is stopped at the intersection because of the terrain.

?In the longterm, I?d like to re-grade that and return it to a two-way stop intersection,? Patterson said.

?I think it?s important to note that there has been a lot of conversation about this intersection,? said supervisor Wes Rich. ?There?s still going to be a stop for the traffic going uphill??

Patterson said that was correct.

?What we need to do is eliminate the slope for the southbound traffic so that they?re not having to stop on a steep incline,? Patterson said. ?I hope we can work that in during the next couple of years. If we can get rid of the sight problems and give people a decent place to stop then it could go back to a two-way stop.?

The supervisors voted 4-0 to support installing a four-way stop at the intersection. Supervisors Rich, Adam Mangold, Ron Bennett and Steve Davis voted in favor and Jim Miksch was absent.

A few county departments delivered their quarterly reports at the meeting. Washington County Recorder Jo Greiner said she is happy the county is back in the ?passport business.? Greiner said that there was a time in between a former employee leaving and a new one being hired that the county was not able to issue passport photos.

Washington County Auditor Bill Fredrick said sales of the county?s plat books continued to decline. Fredrick said that is due to the fact that much of the information in the plat books is available online.

In other news, the supervisors acknowledged the expansion of an animal confine feeding operation for Roger L. Edwards in the 3300 block of 240

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Street. The supervisors also approved waivers for the right of subdivision reviews.