Flooded road repairs costly

It may cost up to $200,000 to repair county roads damaged by flooding in late February.
Jay County Engineer Dan Watson told the Jay County Commissioners this morning that the county highway department has already spent about $120,000 — $78,000 in stone, $30,000 in labor and $15,000 on replacement culverts — repairing county roads and he estimates that the final total may fall between $150,000 and $200,000.
“It’s going to be another couple weeks before I feel we have everything repaired,” Watson said.
Watson said that all of the culverts that were washed out have been repaired and that crews are working to replace stone on county roads and build them back up to normal levels.
“We’re down now just to cleaning up and fixing up the side of the roads,” he said.
Although the county is incurring substantial costs in the repair effort, Watson said he’s confident that the department will be able to receive disaster reimbursement for the work, since the county department would fall under different criteria than residences and businesses.
“I’m pretty optimistic that we’ll get some help,” he said. “We should be able to get a lot of that back.”
Watson said most of the roadwork was needed in the southern half of the county. Watson said he thinks the rainfall was heavier in the south, leading to flooding issues.
Commissioner Jim Zimmerman said he noted the work the highway department has done while out driving during the last two weeks.
“I’d say the guys did a good job of (leveling) the berms up,” he said.
Also this morning, Jay County Surveyor Brad Daniels said he spoke with the Blackford County surveyor about possible logjams in the Salamonie River near Montpelier as a follow-up to an inquiry by commissioner Milo Miller Jr. last week.
Daniels said the Blackford surveyor said he didn’t have the available manpower to check the river. Daniels also said he spoke with an area resident who said although the flooding may not have been as bad as in Jay County, there was significant flooding around Montpelier.
Daniels said some of his department’s employees will be checking the Salamonie for logjams and other blocks in the near future.
In other business this morning, the commissioners:
•Gave preliminary approval to Sheriff Ray Newton to change the Jay County Sheriff’s Office phone provider to Comcast.
Newton said that by changing to Comcast from CenturyLink, the county could save around $3,000 per year. Comcast is offering a 3-year contract at a flat rate of $324.50 per month. He said bills from CenturyLink range from $500 to $700 per month.
Attorney Bill Hinkle will review the contract and the commissioners will take action on it next week.
•Gave permission to Newton to solicit quotes for a new SUV for the sheriff’s department. Newton said he clarified the specifications for the desired vehicle. The commissioners rejected a first round of quotes for an SUV after receiving dissimilar specifications from area dealers.[[In-content Ad]]