County looks at road paving project, funding

A little over a dozen members of the public attended the Clinton County Board of Supervisors' discussion of a petition to pave a gravel road in Hampshire Township.

[George Ooten]

Talk about a mess. We live on a county road that is currently graveled. We were told by the county that work would start in May. Well, they started work around the 10th of May, and guess what...the road is still not done.

The road is 1 1/2 miles long, and has been prepped about 4 times for pavement. When I say prepped, I mean, they come through, tear up the gravel, run some scrapers down the road, and put gravel back down.

They have dug up ditches on one persons property to fill ditches on another persons property. When asked why they were doing this, I was told that it was to improve drainage. I never had a problem until they did this on my property. Now when it rains, my ditches fill with muddy water (they didn't plant grass after they ripped mine up) and it doesn't drain off. When I called to ask about it, I was told that I wasn't taxed on that part of my property, and that it was imminent domain. In other words, tough crap!

I was also told that there were three separate contractors doing the work. Maybe that is why they have done the same work over and over again without making any real progress. Of course, the road has been widened and raised, but the only thing that has done is cause water to drain into my yard too. I have to drive up a steep incline and over a mound of dirt and gravel just to get out of my driveway.

The last word I was given was that the project will be completed by the end of summer. I wish I had a job like that. 5 months to pave a road that is only 1 1/2 miles long. Talk about job security.

This is government waste at its best! I think there needs to be some oversight here and for every other project that this state has planned. After all, the stimulus money that they are using to finance this and a myriad of other projects is coming out of the taxpayers pockets.

[Randy Wiese]

I have to agree with you. That sounds ridiculous. Who is monitoring this Clinton County? Hello?

[Construction worker]

I am kind of surprised that there are only two comments on this subject. This appears to be government waste and/or corruption to me. I can't actually believe that they are taking that long to pave a road that short. Its too bad we see this kind of thing all of the time. Is Iowa the old Illinois? I would also like to know who the heck is checking on this? What course of action can a county resident take when they are subject to something like this? Anybody??????