Road Woes Continue, But Forecast For County’s Future, ‘Not All Bad’

Although winter weather played havoc with schedules last week, for the Ripley County Commission it worked to advantage.

The regularly scheduled Wednesday meeting had already been moved to Thursday to allow for Commissioner Jesse Roy to attend a meeting in Jefferson City (which ultimately did not take place due to the storm).

It was the last meeting of the month and therefore, marked by a full agenda, as all three commissioners planned to attend their annual mandatory meeting Feb. 26.

Therefore, there will be no meeting this week.

Along with the routine business of paying bills and approval of payroll and accounting transfers, Wednesday’s discussions included updates regarding roads and bridges, use tax revenues and grants, and consolidation of rural fire departments, just to name a few.

Once again, the poor condition of roads in the wake of heavy rainfall and chiefly from last week’s snow storm was a dominant topic.

“Roads are probably at their worst everywhere right now,” said Commissioner Gary Emmons, adding, “It’s not that the workers don’t want to get out there and fix things.”

Crews are wringing their hands, eager for dry weather and warmer temperatures so that they can go out and make lasting improvements, he said.

“All the roads are in bad shape right now. It does no good to make them smooth again when we get 2-3 inches of rain the next day.

“Culverts are clogged or broken and the water has nowhere to go but across the roads,” commented Commissioner Roy.

While the ground was frozen crews were out trying to clear roads of snow, but in dread that once it melts there will be more problems than can be quickly resolved.

Roy added, “At this point, even if it didn’t rain for a month, that would not be long enough to get all the roads back where they need to be.”

Emmons noted that if the county absorbs Doniphan Special Road District, one of the things he would like to look into is a better way of dealing with snow and ice.

“We will have more black top roads to maintain if we decide to take that on,” said Emmons.

The commission has called a public hearing for March 12 for discussions about the district, which is currently without road commissioners, and is set for possible dissolution.

On the bright side, Roy said he has received word that MoDot has approved funding for the 142E-46 bridge project.

The bridge fell in back in August due to the collapse of three culverts. Engineer Jeremy Manning assessed the damages and estimated replacement of the bridge at about $550,000.

The county closed the road and applied to MoDot for emergency funding, but was rejected.

However, road crews temporarily repaired the road so that it could reopen, reapplied, and the project was approved on appeal.

Roy said, “Our share of the cost will be 15 percent. We have been approved, but the project probably won’t get done until next year or after.”

The commission looked over the detention center bills and Roy commented that the amount being spent for inmate medicines is lower, now that prisoners are being housed at Carter County instead of Wayne County.

If an inmate has pharmaceutical coverage, his or her health insurance can be billed. However, most of the individuals who are incarcerated receive Medicaid, and that coverage is cut off when a person is jailed.

Roy said that although jails are required to provide medications prescribed for life-threatening medical conditions, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, etc., he opposes providing drugs such as antidepressants.

“You’re supposed to be depressed about being in jail. I just don’t feel our taxpayers should have to pay for those types of medications,” said Roy.

Roy reported that four broadband internet companies have applied for the county’s BEAD (Broadband Equity Access and Deployment) program to provide enhanced high-speed internet services to county residents. Those competing for the contract are Conexon, Boycom, Windstream and Red Bird; however, only Conexon is promising to provide high speed internet to every location.

Roy said Ozark Foothills Regional Planning Commission has awarded the first housing down payment assistance. The recipient will serve as a test case to see how the process works and fine-tune it as needed.

“I want to see how that plays out, and then I will hold a meeting to educate real estate brokers and banks about the process,” said Roy.

The next meeting of the commission will be 9 a.m., March 5.