Plow push

Why is the county willing to plow a 6.3-mile dead end that leads to a single family, but won’t consider doing the same for a quarter-mile stretch that serves 17 homes?

County resident Eric Akola posed this question last week as he fulfilled his promise to keep appearing on the commissioners’ agenda until the issue is resolved.

While the commission’s decision not to change its mind regarding adding more miles to the road maintenance roster was no great surprise, a new wrench appeared in the works at the revelation that Akola’s opinion does not appear to be shared by all 17 of the families who use that road.

Changing Demographics

The crux of Akola’s argument is that the demographics of this county have changed considerably over the years. The commission has said in the past that it has “historically” not added more maintenance miles but, as Akola pointed out, there does not seem to be a known date for when the roster was first developed.

Though noting that he understands the county’s limited budget, Akola questioned how it makes sense to plow long stretches in low population areas.

Since he last spoke with the commission two months ago, Akola said he’d done some homework regarding maintained versus unmaintained county roads and could give examples of roads that may once have been obvious additions to the roster, but are no longer quite so logical.

He pointed to two examples of long stretches that serve few citizens: the 6.3-mile Moskee and the 3.2-mile Snooks roads, which serve one and three families respectively.

“We’re talking about a quarter mile,” he said, once again asking the commissioners to consider adding this portion of Old Sundance Road where it meets Beaver Creek Road to the roster.

Akola first made the request in August, explaining that snow tends to build up in a certain spot and it’s difficult for landowners to push it far enough off the road to clear the problem before more snow falls.

At that time, the commission denied the request on the basis that no new roads have been added to the maintenance list in many years and doing so for this quarter mile would open a “can of worms”, as there are many others who would like to see their roads maintained.

The commission also feels that landowners at the time of purchase that their access road is unmaintained and make the decision to move into the property anyway.

Last week, Akola called the failure to plan for changing demographics and the commission’s unwillingness to handle the “can of worms” as the county’s leaders “embarrassing”.

He asked again: will the commission plow that quarter mile?

“No,” responded Commissioner Bob Latham, stating that this decision was for all the same reasons as before – plus one additional consideration.

Differing Opinions

Latham presented a letter from nine of the families who use the road.

“They don’t want us to plow, they don’t want us to maintain, they want us to leave it as is,” he said.

While the majority of the letter explains the potential downsides of plowing the road – such as that it could actually worsen the drifting and damage the soft spots caused by last year’s heavy rain – it also spoke to these landowners’ support of the commission’s position.

“We disagree with the request to maintain this section of road on principle because it will be at the detriment to existing county residents, as it would be prioritizing road maintenance over other roads which may be more deserving,” the letter states.

“…The undersigned want to ensure that road maintenance decisions are based on facts and rational deliberation rather than the concept of ‘the squeakiest wheel gets the grease’.”

To Be Continued

Unconvinced, Akola pointed out that the number of landowners who do want the quarter mile maintained still outnumbers those who do not and reiterated his position that he pays the same property taxes as anyone else and should have the same services provided.

Instead, he said, landowners on unmaintained roads must also pay a private service to plow.

“Why are we paying [for road maintenance] twice?” he asked.

Commissioner Fred Devish asked if any of his colleagues would care to change their position. The answer was a unanimous “no”.

“I guess we’ll see you next month,” responded Akola.

Next time, he said, he will endeavor to ask everyone not currently receiving maintenance services on their roads to come to the meeting to ask the commission to explain why the county is unwilling to provide them that service, but will plow a 6.3-mile stretch for one family.