Letter to the editor: Clarifying information on Devlin Road chipseal proposal

I would like to give an opinion on Monday’s commission meeting.  Mrs. Slinkard spoke during the commission meeting on upgrading Devlin Road from gravel to a chipseal road.  She came to our residence to have us sign a petition to have the county upgrade this stretch of road.  I let her know that it was my opinion the Earnest Road had more traffic and homes than Devlin Road had.  And that i had sent an email to (Linn County Commissioner) Jim Johnson when this was brought up a year ago.  At that time I let Mr. Johnson know about an excel spreadsheet that I would send him so that they could accurately estimate the cost of such upgrades.

I was quoted by Mrs. Slinkard that the cost of such an upgrade would be an amount according to this spreadsheet and that this price was actual and good through 2025. I don’t know how she came up with this when I distinctly recall letting her know that this price was according to what our prices were at the time I retired from Miami County, and that I had no knowledge of what Linn County pays for commodities like oil and gravel.  Without that information, I was only giving estimates and that she would have to get with Mr. West for actual cost for Linn County. 

Also, there is no way of estimating future cost as she quoted me saying without bidding such commodities in advance for the cost in 2025.

I would also like to add that it is my opinion that there should be no upgrades to gravel roads to chipseal as they don’t hold up to today's traffic. 

Also, any funding for this type of upgrade should only be considered when all hard surfaced roads have been maintained and are in top shape to today's standards.

I no longer speak for Miami County since my retirement but would like to mention that Somerset Road south of 359th to 383rd was upgraded to a chipseal road that eventually had to be overlayed with asphalt and was never finished going south to Linn County to meet up with Linn County’s paved section of Querry Road going to La Cygne.

Somerset is sometimes the only road that residents of the city of La Cygne have to use during flooding to get north.  She and Jim Johnson mentioned that a commissioner from Miami County stated they would finish Indianapolis Road if Linn County chipsealed to the county line on Devlin Road.  I can’t imagine that Miami County would do anything to Indianapolis Road with Somerset Road being a more important road for improvement according to traffic counts.

Jeff McGuire

Parker, Kan.