Residents contribute $9,000 to fix Cloverdale Twp. road

Tuesday, July 5, 2016
The paved base of County Road 125 East in Cloverdale Township having been recently covered in gravel, the effects of a heavy June rain show plainly in the washed out gravel. On Monday, residents of the road presented a plan to pay $9,000 toward the county chipping and sealing the road.

After attending a recent Putnam County Commissioners meeting to express concern with the state of their road, some Cloverdale Township residents put their money where their mouth was on Tuesday.

The residents of County Road 125 East/175 East presented a plan by which they will pay a little more than 40 percent of the cost to chip and seal their road.

With the residents willing to chip in $9,000, the commissioners sealed the deal, agreeing to pay the remaining $13,000 for the Putnam County Highway Department to perform the work.

Marc Fishburn, who along with Lee Roy Patton has served as the spokesman for the group during the meetings, presented a proposal from Matherly and Son Paving, Terre Haute, to do the work for $24,000.

However, Highway Supervisor Mike Ricketts insisted the work could be performed in house and at a cost savings.

Fishburn said the residents considered contributing 50 percent of the cost, but feel that the previous surface -- paved 17 years ago -- could have lasted longer with proper care.

"The road was never properly ditched in the beginning," Fishburn said. "We feel the road could've had a longer life with proper ditching."

Eight households make their home along the dead-end road. Fishburn said the residents have all contributed to the cause in some way.

The main request made by the citizens is that work be completed in the next 60 days before the weather begins to turn colder in September.

Ricketts said it would be three weeks before he has crews available to begin the process by ditching the road. Thereafter, chip-and-seal work should be completed in August.

The road was originally chipped and sealed in 1999 when the residents at the time pooled their money, contributing $9,000 to the effort then.

When potholes became an overwhelming problem on the road earlier this year, highway crews responded by covering the broken-down pavement with gravel.

Besides being upset about the regression in the state of the road, residents also expressed their concerns over dust control, property values, home and vehicle damage, health issues for some residents and the gravel washing out in heavy rains.

With these concerns in mind, Fishburn, Patton and others attended the June 6 meeting to bring the problem to the commissioners' attention.

Having promised last month they would be back, the group returned Monday with a possible solution, one the commissioners readily accepted.

In other business:

* Ricketts reported that Manhattan Road was closed Monday morning between Limedale and Antioch Church for a pipe replacement.

Officials hope to have the work done within seven days, if not sooner. In the meantime, residents are asked to used county roads 300 South and 300 West as a detour.

Truck traffic is asked to use state roads.

Ricketts said that after the pipe is replaced, ditch and berm work will be done, with paving performed in the area later this year.

* A pair of bridge replacement projects will commence in the coming weeks.

Bridge 8 on the Russell-Clinton township line will be replaced beginning July 11. The closure of County Road 850 North between County Road 400 North and U.S. 231 is expected to last roughly four weeks.

Equipment will be moved in this week to begin replacing Bridge 248 in Jackson Township.

The one-lane bridge on County Road 650 East is about 1.5 miles south of State Road 236.

Already slated for replacement this summer, the bridge was unexpectedly closed in February.

The official closure for the federal aid project will begin next week, and run through October or November.

* County Attorney Jim Ensley gave an update on Keightly Road, which was fixed last week.

After consulting with their insurance firm, officials determined that there is less liability in fixing the road -- which is technically a private driveway owned by the county -- than in leaving the large potholes.

Moving forward, the commissioners asked Ensley to pursue talks with the Greencastle Mayor Bill Dory to see if officials are interested in Keightly becoming a city street.

* Commissioners approved a request by the Putnam County Health Department to get more employees trained on the automatic external defibrillator (AED) housed in the courthouse.

Currently, the only employees required to be trained are the courthouse deputies.

Commissioners hope to get at least one person trained in each courthouse office so there is always someone on hand to potentially save a life.

The health department will begin gauging interest and pursing putting a class together.

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  • So residents on 125 E/175 E will have paid $18,000 out-of-pocket to fix mistakes by the County Highway Department? Those folks should be exempt from property taxes for the next 10 years.

    -- Posted by Ben Dover on Wed, Jul 6, 2016, at 8:39 AM
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