Work to resume on Pleasant Plain Road

District judge Myron Gookin will occupy a temporary office on the second floor of the Jefferson County Courthouse once sworn in Sept. 16.

During this morning?s meeting of the Jefferson County Board of Supervisors, supervisor Dick Reed reported the third-floor office he had hoped to renovate won?t accommodate Gookin?s full-time secretary/recorder. The two will use the law library and a conference room until the third-floor office now being used by the supervisors becomes available.

The supervisors? office is temporarily on the third floor while the former treasurer?s office is being renovated for their use. The treasurer moved into the supervisors? first-floor office to be closer to the automotive department, which treasurer Terri Kness also oversees.

County engineer Tom Goff reported work will resume on Pleasant Plain Road this week. He expects paving will take four days, but as before, half of the street will remain open to traffic.

The first phase of the resurfacing project involving cold-in-place recycling was completed earlier this month. The project includes roughly 3 miles of work, beginning inside city limits just north of Walton Road and continuing past Cambridge Investment Research Inc. to 167th Street.

The supervisors will ask assistant county attorney Pat McAvan to draft a letter and resolution to begin condemnation of land for the Pleasant Plain lift station. The property owners do not object to the sale.

Also this morning, the board heard from Shane Higdon, who questioned the county policy regarding bringing pets to work ? specifically, he inquired about the dog at the engineer?s office.

Higdon brought up allergies and liability should the dog cause any damage or bite someone.

Goff, who owns the dog, agreed Higdon raised some valid issues. He said he first started bringing the dog to work shortly after getting it because it couldn?t be left home alone.

?If it?s a problem, I won?t bring the dog to work,? he said.

Neither supervisor Steve Burgmeier nor Reed feel the dog is an issue. However, Burgmeier said a policy regarding pets can be addressed in the county?s employee handbook, which is currently being revised.

Higdon also complained he first contacted the engineer?s office two years ago about having a ditch dug on his property. He was frustrated no one has been able to estimate a date and that there appears to be no record of calls or a project schedule. Higdon also accused the person handling his most recent call of unprofessional conduct.

Burgmeier said projects often ?seem to take more time than maybe necessary.? During the summer, he said ditching takes low priority and often gets pushed back.

?There?s more ditching than the amount of time, labor and money we have,? Burgmeier said.

Supervisor Lee Dimmitt said had Higdon been given a time estimate, it quickly could have gone ?out the window? because of more pressing issues, such as soft spots and blowups, that arise. He feels the road to Abingdon is in critical need of work, yet that too has taken been on the county?s plate at least two years.

?I know your ditch is a priority to you,? Dimmitt said. ?The answer is more money and more people.?

The only way for the county to raise more money is to collect it from taxpayers, Dimmitt pointed out, saying the board works to keep costs down.

Goff said the road crew should get to Higdon?s ditch this September.