Linn County Commissioners say they are receiving complaints from residents that county graders are driving down roads with "blades up" instead of fixing their roads. Public Works head Shaun West said crews are working on the roads most damaged by recent floods first. (Journal file photo)
By Charlene Sims, info@linncountyjournal.com
Correction: The telephone number for the county Public Works Department was incorrect in an earlier version of this article. It has been corrected.
MOUND CITY – On Monday, May 13, the Linn County Commissioners heard from Public Works Office Manager Joyce Hall about problems with the PubWorks system that sends out road ticket information, the recently awarded transportation grant for this year, other updates about public works, and her opinion of what makes a good boss.
Hall said that road tickets that were sent to the road foremen from April 23 until May 10 were not going to the road foremen’s phones. Hall said that she was advised by the Linn County Information Technology (IT) department to call the PubWorks support department.
Hall said that she was able to get this corrected and assisted in getting the foremen’s phones changed so they could receive the road tickets.
Hall encouraged the commissioners to have people with road concerns call her at 913-795-2279 or go on the website and leave a clear description of where the problem is.
Hall also told commissioners that the grant award for the public transportation program had been received. She reported that the county received nearly $54,000 for operating expenses, which was 50% of the amount she requested. The state operating reimbursement is 20 %, which is about $21,600, so the county’s share of the operating expenses will be 30%.
Hall said on the administrative side, the county was awarded nearly $13,000.
“So, the total budget I put in for – and this is just my estimated budget – was $107,549 and our total award was $88,518,” said Hall. “Their fiscal year is different than ours and runs from July 1 through June 30. So this will be effective July 1 of this year.”
The county did not receive any capital reimbursement for a van because Hall did not submit a request since the county had just received the new van that was ordered earlier.
Commissioner Danny McCullough changed the subject to roads and asked how many open tickets did the county have open at present. Hall said she would have to look that up and get back with them later.
Hall informed the commissioners that the broken window on the new maroon van had been fixed and it was back in service on Monday. She said she was going to put an ad in the paper for the 2011 Ford van.
Commissioner Jim Johnson then asked if there was anyway on the ticket issue that they could be sent twice or two ways to make sure the tickets are received.
Hall said that she was sending emails as well as the notices on PubWorks, but tickets that were sent and not received were sent by her backup who had not been told to send an email also.
She then expressed her opinion to the commissioners about what a leader was. Hall told the commissioners:
“Regarding what makes a good boss. They trust their employees to perform their duties. They have integrity. They’re innovative. They provide direction and purpose to their staff. They communicate effectively. They have empathy. They have courage to stand up for their people.
“I’ve worked for 43 years. I know that’s older than you are, Danny (referring to McCullough always saying things were done before he was even born). I’ve never had a better boss than Shaun West, and I want you all to know that and I’m not the only one that feels that way.”
Later after Hall had looked it up, Public Works Director Shaun West reported that the ticket numbers were 66 open tickets, with 35 of those reported after the weather incident.
The conversation then went on to road issues with West.
He told the commissioners that the ones that have been open longer are like the lagoon or culvert pipes that are scheduled for installation. Things that are on the books but they are no being done until they do multiple jobs at one time. There are some signs, ditch and building maintenance, bridges debris removal but 35 are still pending from our weather incident forward.
McCullough and Johnson both said they were getting phone calls from people who saw graders going down the road without their blades down.
“A property owner yesterday was out in our road with his own equipment fixing the road,” said Johnson. “I’ll go on with it. He told me just last night that three to four maintainers had been down his road since the incident with their blade up.”
West said the graders were trying to prioritize the worst roads first so they were passable and then going back to work on the other roads.
For the next fifteen minutes, Johnson and McCullough grilled West about details of how the road crews worked.
In other business, the commissioners:
• Approved a resolution for the sheriff’s office to list vehicles and sell them. The vehicles will be sold at govdeals.com and open to bid for the public. The auction will begin on Monday, May 12 in the afternoon and end on May 23. The vehicles include a 2016 Ford Transit Van, a 2014 Dodge Charger, and a 2017 Ford SUV. Here is the link to the website that lists the vehicles.
The information from the sheriff said that all funds from the sale of the vehicles will be deposited into the Linn County general fund with the Linn County Treasurer.
• Learned from Planning and Zoning Director Darin Wilson that the public hearing for solar regulations will not be on May 28, and the date is pending depending on the county planning and zoning commission’s decision.
• Hired Alex Pendleton as an Operator II for the south shop at the hourly rate of $18.36 and Craig Cox as a Mechanic II at hourly rate of $20.20 for the south shop.
• Heard from Mound City resident Mike White questioning about how the work order system for the road and bridge department works.
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