Commissioners Discuss Roads, Budget Limitations

During a conversation about Cotton Dodd Road on July 27, Crawford County commissioners discussed maintenance, hard surfaces and budget limitations.

Bill Lange, who lives on Cotton Dodd, held up a previous issue of the Cuba Free Press that contained a picture of the road.

A resident had complained about the condition of the road, but Lange pushed back.

“Our road is not the smoothest or prettiest road in the county…but I took initiative and talked to nine people who live on the road,” he said. “Everyone wishes we had a smoother road, but everyone is happy we have a surfaced road and not gravel. It’s in better condition now. Though it’s not perfect, it’s better than it was and I’ve lived there for 45 years.”

District 2 Commissioner Jared Boast said there are a series of “honest reasons” that have kept the county from pursuing more hard surfaces.

“We’re not beating a dead horse: stuff is expensive,” he said. “Materials are so high it takes so much more to do a short piece.”

Boast said he is consistently asked what his plan is.

“We’ve purchased more equipment and we’re smarter about lying asphalt to stretch our money further. We do not have enough money for aggregates (asphalt, hard surface material) to make it work,” he said. “There has to be another step.”

Boast said he wasn’t sure what it would take to get additional revenue.

Lange suggested a bond issue.

“It would take a lot of planning and a group of citizens to promote it, but we could come up with some ideas,” he said.

Boast told Lange he wasn’t sure about the county’s bonding capacity, “but anyone can drive these roads and see the problems.”

The commissioner said that time has passed by what things cost. More than 20 years ago, several county roads had asphalt poured on them.

A “lull” followed where not a lot of maintenance was done to follow up.

“Now we’re paying a price for that,” he said, adding that District 1 Commissioner Rob Cummings is in the same boat.

The two districts each have a sales tax that provides funding and voters extended it last April. But to make the resources go further, the commissioners share them.

All three commissioners said this wasn’t taking place prior to Boast and Cummings taking office in 2017.

Presiding Commissioner Leo Sanders said he was in the middle of past squabbles between commissioners.

Cummings said he and Boast talked to each other after winning their elections in 2016 and agreed to work together.

“It’s worked out great,” Cummings said. “They need equipment or manpower and we send it. It’s the same the other way. It’s worked out great.”