County commission: Resident complains of risky roads
Todd Butterfield has had nine flat tires on his vehicles, on a certain stretch of 350th Street in Logan Township, he told Marion County commissioners Monday morning.
Butterfield said he and his two sons have removed 10 gallons of railroad spikes from the section of the road. Small slivers of rock also have been bad for tires, he said. Work was done on the road about five months ago, he said.
Chip and seal work on the Roxbury-Tampa Road really helped it, he said.
Blading some of the top layer into windrows, leaving this material at the side of the road, temporarily alleviated the problem, but is not a final solution, Butterfield said.
Fragments and sharp points were pressed down into the roadbed, but they pop back up.
Commissioners said they would take care of the problem. The rock and spikes will be removed from the roadway and will be used to make a sturdy road base elsewhere in the county.
The materials will be removed using a grader and loader, and will be stockpiled at the Tampa yard for later use.
The removal will take place from the segment of 350th Street in question, and from a two-mile stretch of Bison Road leading to Roxbury Road. A one-eighth mile stretch leading to Butterfield's home also will be cleared, County Clerk Carol Maggard said Tuesday.
The commission took no action on a historic bridge, the Amelia Park Bridge, near the Antelope community. The Marion County Historical Society is to have an access hearing Saturday about the bridge.
Regardless of any historic designation of the bridge, it will still be owned by the county, commissioners said.
Maggard said that SBC erred in its estimate of the county's cost for a new maintenance and upgrading agreement for the telephone system.
SBC forgot to include an amount for the services of a key installer, so the amount owed will be $16,573.88, about $6,000 more than SBC had said.
Maggard said a total system upgrade is involved, but no purchase of new phones. There are to be eight business lines and 16 stations at the county health department offices.
It may not actually cost the county an additional $6,000, depending on how much time the installer spends in Marion.
Also, the estimate for the installer's time, at $110 per hour, is a high-end one. There is a two-hour minimum charge for the installer's services.
Commission Chairman Howard Collett said he did not like buying "a pig in a poke. They've (SBC) got a lock, a headlock on us."
No sufficient reason is stated why certain items or services cost certain specific amounts, he felt.
The 12 payments will be $1,466.29 each, if the $16,573 figure holds firm.
Commissioners also approved purchase of seven new chairs for the County Clerk's Department, for a total of $1,821.66, or about $260 each.
Maggard said she received bids on three different types of chairs. Her employees tried them out.
Two Via Terra chairs will be bought from Scott Rice for $324.44 each; two Hon 5900 series chairs, also from Rice, for $109.39 each; and three Sit on It chairs, at $318 each, from Navrat's.
Purchase of five sections of new aluminum bleachers for the rodeo/grandstand area at the county fairgrounds in Hillsboro was approved.
