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The Hall County Board of Supervisors took some strong criticism on Tuesday for its road improvement plan, but it unanimously approved the plan with no changes.
The harshest criticism came from Regional Planning Commissioner John Amick, who believes the county has not prioritized its projects or road spending well.
"Your total capital (improvement) budget is $500,000 that is pathetic," Amick said, noting that the city of Grand Island alone is spending $13 million on road improvement projects.
He took issue with some of the nine bridge replacement projects that County Surveyor Casey Sherlock, who serves as roads superintendent, has planned in 2008.
"I'm here to tell you the one- and six-year road plan sucks," Amick said as he began his comments during a Tuesday morning public hearing.
Sherlock said all the bridges are ones that have low sufficiency ratings. That means they have structural deficiencies.
But the bridge projects primarily serve local traffic and don't make the best use of spending public dollars, Amick said.
Sherlock's traffic counts show the bridge replacement with the highest traffic count of 125 vehicles a day is at Airport Road. Projects at White Cloud Road, McGuire Road and Cameron Road carry 75 vehicles a day, a project at 130th has 65 a day, another one at White Cloud Road has 45 a day, two at 190th both carry 35 a day, and one at 90th carries 30 a day.
In fairness to all county taxpayers, Amick said, the county should close little-used bridges that need repair.
"Unless there's a local cost share of a minimal amount, these bridges are going to close," Amick suggested.
He urged the county to encourage the reactivation of township boards as a way to raise dollars by and for those local farmers and property owners who want those little-used bridges to be repaired. He saw that as preferable to assessing the cost of a 30-vehicle-a-day bridge to every county taxpayer.
Amick also urged the county to calculate the cost of all of the proposed paving projects in the county and then issue a bond to complete the work instead of doing "dribble drabble" projects from time to time. He included in that proposal those projects on 1-R Road and the three miles on South Locust from Lepin to Barrows Road that Doniphan has requested for decades.
"We did it with the jail. Let's bring our county roads up to snuff at one time," Amick said.
Although Amick said he's gotten the county board's message "loud and clear" that it isn't interested in the South Locust paving project, which carries 170 vehicles a day, it frustrates him.
That gravel section of South Locust carries four school buses daily, connects the consolidated schools of Doniphan-Trumbull and joins the two largest cities in Central Nebraska Grand Island and Hastings.
"Every year, I feel like I'm beating my head against the wall," Amick said of asking for the paving.
He also took issue with no one from the county even bothering to show up at the Feb. 6 planning commission meeting to explain the road plan. Perhaps it was because the county expected to get an "---chewing" for its lack of resources devoted to rural roads, he said.
"You've got to come up with other sources of funding and spend your money more wisely," Amick said. "I like you all, but it makes me damn mad every year when this road plan comes out."
County board Chairman Bud Jeffries said he's well aware of the county's meager roads budget. To maintain the current 190 miles of asphalt, it needs to repave about 18 miles a year but does just four or five because of cost, he said.
Amick's comments weren't the only criticism launched at the board.
A South Locust area farm family objected to the creation of a proposed new road on their property just south of Interstate 80.
Adam Pavelka, the attorney for John and Patsy Ellis and Russell Ellis, said opening a new road at Blaine Street near Schultz Road will simply give better "access to Hall County delinquents." The area is near where the body of murder victim Faud Osman was found in August 2007.
It will also force the Ellises to move center pivots and a hay barn, Pavelka said.
The county wants to build the quarter-mile-long road to access land that is currently isolated.
For the record
In other action on Tuesday, the county board:
Met in closed session for about 15 minutes regarding litigation involving Abacus Business Systems. The county filed a lawsuit against Abacus in July 2006 alleging that the company had overbilled the county about $1.7 million for computer management services. Abacus owners Will and Joanne Bennett filed a counterclaim against the county in July 2007. No action was taken following the closed meeting with attorney Mike Johnson.
Approved spending $9,000 for Hall County to participate in a pilot-project upgrade of the TerraScan system for property value and tax record keeping. There are several new features with the upgrade, including the ability for taxpayers to file personal property tax schedules online.
Awarded a $284,466 contract to JIL to overlay Shady Bend Road from Bismark to Highway 34 with 4 inches of asphalt for two miles. The vote was 6-1 with Supervisor Dan Wagoner voting no.
Awarded a $192,183 contract to L.J. Webb Contractors to install four box culverts at Rainforth Road, 110th Road, McGuire Road and Capital Avenue.
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