Washington County spending slightly more on rock

WASHINGTON – Mother Nature played havoc on Washington County's secondary roads last winter and on the ability of county road crews to maintain them, to say nothing about the impact on the maintenance budget.

But through it all the county 'staff continues to be dedicated to their job and they want to do what they can to improve the roads.” That was the message Washington County Engineer Jacob Thorius delivered to the Washington County Board of Supervisors when he submitted his second quarterly report of the calendar year summarizing the activities of his department from April through June when the supervisors met in regular session at the Washington Courthouse Tuesday, Aug. 20. All supervisors were present including Abe Miller, Jack Seward Jr., Stan Stoops, Bob Yoder and Richard Young.

Thorius said weather conditions in April were poor, curtailing blading roads and hauling rock but conditions improved in May and June. He said crews dealt with flooding during and after rain events in April and May with cleanup activities extending into June. Some county roads were closed from a day to two weeks as a result of flooding on English River, Crooked Creek and the Skink River.

In total, 55,166 tons of rock were hauled onto roads in the county during the quarter. Thorius said crews hauled the rock as quickly as they could but did not want to tear up soggy roads to get the rock down. So far in this fiscal year, the county has spent $1,490.021.52 hauling rock compared to $1,363,167 last year and $1,366,652 the year before.

Crews also replaced 170 feet of cross road pipe at 24 locations while cleaning out approximately 1,500 feet of ditch at the same time. Mowing along the shoulder of paved roads began in May and along gravel roads in June. Crews worked on 166 road signs and picked up a lot of trash from ditches including seven TV sets, two couches, two mattresses, two computer monitors, a stove, a radio and many bags of garbage and tires. Two- and one-half miles of a grading project on 170th Street were completed. The final cost of that project is estimated to be $326,407.

Thorius also asked the supervisors to help him prioritize projects for next year.

In other business, the supervisors:

*Held a public hearing and then approved a resolution approving an application for a subdivision in an unincorporated area of the county owned by The Shack of All Trades, LLC.in Township 75;

*Certified the appointment of Justin James Adams as Deputy Sheriff;

*Acknowledged the resignation of Brianna Zumhof from the GIS Department and

*Approved the change of Shop Forman David Barnes in the Secondary Roads Department going from a full-time non-exempt to a full-time exempt employee.