July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Road committee talks about controlling dust (04/17/07)
By By MARY ANN LEWIS-
As the price of road materials increases annually, county officials are looking at ways to accomplish the same job for the same money.
The Jay County Road Committee met Monday afternoon to discuss the dust control material that has been applied to the county's stone roads for the past two years and how to deal with an increase in the costs for the application.
"It's not the product that's gone up, it's trucking it here," Jay County Highway Department superintendent Ken Wellman said Monday.
Earlier estimates determined that with a 4 cents per gallon increase, it could mean an $8,000 increase in shipping charges alone.
In 2006 the county spent $172,000 on the chemical application, with $72,000 of that coming from the county's infrastructure fund.
Commissioner Faron Parr, the committee chairman, met with committee members Dan Watson, Judy LeMaster, Ray Gabbard, and Wellman Monday.
"I'm tickled to death it only went up four cents," Parr said.
After much discussion, it was agreed to see if less of the chemical mat can be applied to the same number of miles, thereby keeping the cost at $172,000 but hopefully having the same impact on controlling dust.
Wellman will be meeting with officials from A.J.P. Corp. of Goshen to see if cutting back the amount of the application per mile by about 10 percent would be a possibility. That move would allow the county to treat the same number of miles at the same price as 2006.
Wellman said the chemical application to 114 miles of the county's 247 miles of stone roads appears to have resulted in savings of the amount of stone needed for those roads. He said in the past he has had to purchase additional stone.
"In the last two years we've not had to ask for more stone (money). We've saved about $50,000 to $75,000," he said, attributing that savings to the dust mat which compacts and keeps the stone in place.
Since the application began in 2005, Parr said county residents have called and asked that the section of road near their residences also receive the application and about two additional miles will be added to this year's application process.
"It sure is nice to not have so much dust," Gabbard said of the application.
The committee also discussed the 2008 schedule that could apply the chemical to roads that have not before been treated and skipping a year on the ones that have received the application.
Wellman said once all the county's roads have been treated, then the department can look at an every-other-year rotation.
He said that some of the stone roads will not be treated because there are no homes along those roads and they are seldom used.
Earlier in the day, courthouse superintendent Roger McBride met with commissioners Milo Miller Jr., Gary Theurer, and Parr and discussed recycling at the courthouse.
Bryant resident Sue Twigg has been picking recycling from the courthouse and annex, and then taking that recycling to a drop box at Bloomfield Elementary School
She receives no pay for the service, and commissioners agreed to allow her to continue to pick up those items.
McBride said Rumpke, the city's new trash collection service, would also pick up recyclables at a cost of $29.25 a month for the courthouse and $6.50 per month for the annex.
"She does this out of the goodness of her heart," Miller said of Twigg's efforts. "Let her do it as long as she wants to."[[In-content Ad]]
The Jay County Road Committee met Monday afternoon to discuss the dust control material that has been applied to the county's stone roads for the past two years and how to deal with an increase in the costs for the application.
"It's not the product that's gone up, it's trucking it here," Jay County Highway Department superintendent Ken Wellman said Monday.
Earlier estimates determined that with a 4 cents per gallon increase, it could mean an $8,000 increase in shipping charges alone.
In 2006 the county spent $172,000 on the chemical application, with $72,000 of that coming from the county's infrastructure fund.
Commissioner Faron Parr, the committee chairman, met with committee members Dan Watson, Judy LeMaster, Ray Gabbard, and Wellman Monday.
"I'm tickled to death it only went up four cents," Parr said.
After much discussion, it was agreed to see if less of the chemical mat can be applied to the same number of miles, thereby keeping the cost at $172,000 but hopefully having the same impact on controlling dust.
Wellman will be meeting with officials from A.J.P. Corp. of Goshen to see if cutting back the amount of the application per mile by about 10 percent would be a possibility. That move would allow the county to treat the same number of miles at the same price as 2006.
Wellman said the chemical application to 114 miles of the county's 247 miles of stone roads appears to have resulted in savings of the amount of stone needed for those roads. He said in the past he has had to purchase additional stone.
"In the last two years we've not had to ask for more stone (money). We've saved about $50,000 to $75,000," he said, attributing that savings to the dust mat which compacts and keeps the stone in place.
Since the application began in 2005, Parr said county residents have called and asked that the section of road near their residences also receive the application and about two additional miles will be added to this year's application process.
"It sure is nice to not have so much dust," Gabbard said of the application.
The committee also discussed the 2008 schedule that could apply the chemical to roads that have not before been treated and skipping a year on the ones that have received the application.
Wellman said once all the county's roads have been treated, then the department can look at an every-other-year rotation.
He said that some of the stone roads will not be treated because there are no homes along those roads and they are seldom used.
Earlier in the day, courthouse superintendent Roger McBride met with commissioners Milo Miller Jr., Gary Theurer, and Parr and discussed recycling at the courthouse.
Bryant resident Sue Twigg has been picking recycling from the courthouse and annex, and then taking that recycling to a drop box at Bloomfield Elementary School
She receives no pay for the service, and commissioners agreed to allow her to continue to pick up those items.
McBride said Rumpke, the city's new trash collection service, would also pick up recyclables at a cost of $29.25 a month for the courthouse and $6.50 per month for the annex.
"She does this out of the goodness of her heart," Miller said of Twigg's efforts. "Let her do it as long as she wants to."[[In-content Ad]]
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