Roads, Roads, Roads….and Bridges. Plus a little Major Moves. It’s that time of the year again - Spring-time and road-work. My goal with roads in District 1 this year is to take care of the horribly deteriorated “artery” roads. The artery roads in the northern part of District 1 have previously been left to disintegrate. My list includes Macy Holler Hill, McVille, Newark and Liberty Church roads. Also included – but I am not certain we will be able to do it this year – is Walnut Grove – CR490/530/500E. The county has a growing business on this road, with a tourism side-market and I believe it is important to get tourists with money to a spot using a good road. In other areas of District 1, we are looking at having to place 2 bridges and 3 large culverts. These structures are not cheap. It may look like one area of the district is being favored but there are two reasons for this: With the cost of materials for blacktopping this year, if the work is concentrated in one area we can expect to save money. The second reason is that without good drainage, the taxpayer’s money is wasted on blacktop. I am unwilling to spend your dollars on blacktop when drainage on the road has not been addressed yet by the County Highway. This all takes time. Maintenance and paving of other roads such as 1210E, 660N, and 950E are also included. The estimated dollars available for road work this year is $21K in Bituminous, $226K in Local Roads & Streets and $810K in Wheel Tax. Some of the Wheel tax is left over from last year. The Major Moves legislation passed this spring provides dollars to local government. There are two payouts expected to be in October of this year and next. The final legislation changed the payments from 3 years to two years. Greene County can expect $650,433.00 each year. This is before the distribution of dollars to the municipalities in Greene County. I have proposed to the Board of Commissioners that the Major Moves money be utilized on major bridge repair. The October payout date makes it nearly impossible to utilize the money this year, but it provides the ability to plan for the next few years. 2006 Greene County Road Plan- District 1 Priority: 1) 1100E – McVille --- from CR900 north to the Owen County line- 17 ft. 2.5” - Surface #9 (1 mile) 2) 735N from the intersection of 760N to 675E – 18 ft. 2.5” – Surface #9 (approx. 1.5 miles) 2a) 675E / 700E to Owen County Line – 18 ft. 2.5” – Surface #9 (approx. 1 mile) 3) Liberty Church – CR1290E/875N – North of SR43 – 18 ft. 2.5” Surface #9 (1 mile) 4) Macy Holler Hill – CR 985E from intersection of 900N to the Owen Co line – 17 ft. 3” (1 mile) 5) CR 175S – West of SR45 -18 ft. 2” on blacktop (appox. .5 miles)-- 3” on gravel Surface #9 (approx. 1.5 mile) 6) CR490E/500E/530E – From Sylvania Ridge south to 240/260S - 17ft. 2.5” Surface #9 (approx. 2.5 miles) 7) 1210E – from intersection of 640N to SR43 – County Highway 8) 660N/640N – from County Line Road to intersection of 1210E – County Highway 9) CR 950E – South of SR 54 – Needs pipes and culvert at curve 10) CR 950E – North of SR 54 – Needs French drains 11) Tieman Tire Road - CR1250E/CR490S - North of current pavement to CR 1150E – 22 ft Box culvert 12) CR670E – 22 ft Box Culvert 13) Ditch CR 610E north from Koleen to Cemetery – Needs French drains All roads to have ditches dug the entire length and all shoulders clipped and dirt removed. Place and replace pipes on CR175S, 1210E, CR950E (south), and 610E. Request driveway pipes of the home-owner, where needed on all above roads. April 23, 2006 Letter to the editor. There seems to be quite a buzz about the phone bids for the courthouse project. Strand Engineering developed the specifications for the phone system based on the entire project. Strand was tasked to analyze the responses and present to the Board of Commissioners, 2 bid responses that fit the specifications. Strand is paid hourly. This is your money. Bids from Hi-Com of Lyons and Cornwell of Bloomington were presented to the Board by Strand for $40K+ and $26K, respectively. Hi-Com came back to the Board and shared with us that there was an error in their bid response. The Board agreed to review the two bids again. Upon reviewing the bids, I found what appears to be a discrepancy between the number of phones bid by each vendor and the training costs. Hi-Com’s training costs are greater than $4000. There appears to be a difference of 48 phones between the two bids. Unit phone costs are $185. This is a lot of money. Our illustrious Building Corporation and Jim Corey, the Owner’s Representative for the courthouse project have chosen to speak negatively of this phone bid process. What they do not appear to realize is that if Hi-Com bid to the spec’s correctly – the second time – their bid is by far the best and cheapest bid. And the taxpayer is assured of a sound, fair and legal process. Instead, it appears there are those persons that would rather the bids be awarded with no oversight. This is how Greene County got into this mess in the first place. I will make a suggestion to those taxpayers that care – 2006 is an election year with many of our prominent county offices up for re-election. Ask the elected office holders why they do not see fit to spend office supply dollars in Greene County. Ask Commissioners Bart Beard and Larry Hasler why a local fuel supply company was awarded the county bid when their bid prices were higher than the competition. Ask Board President Bart Beard and former Highway Superintendent Hennette why tax dollars were spent on fighting my efforts to utilize Wheel Tax dollars with professional, state-certified contractors. I received so many letters from the attorney at Bart Beard’s request – it would make your head spin. Ask the current Sheriff and the current council members why they have been unwilling to discuss funding for E-911 re-addressing. Ask Bart and the auditor how we have just “found” $500K cash in the bridge fund. I have been asking for this number for over a year. And one last thing to talk to Bart about – ask him how he feels about limestone falling from the old courthouse and almost striking a county employee in the head.