Watson told to do survey (8/2/04)

A request to hire a consultant to survey large culverts in the county was met with a rather cool reception from Jay County Commissioners.

Jay County engineer Dan Watson, who asked the commissioners for permission to hire a licensed engineer to inventory all culverts three-feet in diameter and larger, will apparently be doing the work himself.

Commissioners Milo Miller Jr. and Gary Theurer each said several times and in several different ways they believed that the job — at least part of it — should be done by Watson.

“That’s part of (Watson’s) job description,” Miller said.

Theurer said he believed that Watson should at least help whoever is hired as a consultant.

“You don’t think you could come up with another time to do some of this?” Theurer asked. “I’d like to see you do a little more of the work.”

Watson estimated that there are about 500 culverts three-feet or larger in the county. The inventory that Watson wants prepared will list location (including longitude and latitude), size and condition. Watson said this morning that he estimates there are likely more than 1,000 culverts three-feet and smaller in Jay County.

Watson said that preparing an inventory of the culverts would be a guide in planning for replacing and upgrades of the culverts, which are steel, aluminum or concrete tunnels that allow water to drain under roads.

“I’ll just try to do it myself this winter,” Watson said. “If I can’t do it, I’ll come back and ask for some help.”

Watson had asked permission to hire an engineer from Brownsburg, Leo Rumschlag, to complete the inventory/inspection.

Rumschlag’s fee would have been $8,790.

Miller urged Watson to speed the pace of culvert replacement, noting there is a balance of $1.3 million in the cumulative bridge fund.[[In-content Ad]]