After a discussion that lasted nearly 40 minutes, the Sunflower County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to spend around $256,000 to purchase a new paving machine and roller to repair certain roads within the county.
After an in-depth explanation on road repair techniques and what methods would work best to insure a longer-lasting repair on county roadways, County Engineer Ron Cassada suggested that if the machine was purchased that it be used to mainly level, repair and maintain the 155 miles of state-aid roads, located within the county, that they can afford to do.
“A paver is a great idea but what I don’t want y’all to do is go out and pave county roads. They’re going to fall apart, Cassada said, adding the county’s roads were basically gravel that end up with asphalt on them and not much base under them. He maintained that the road managers should use the DBST or double bituminous surface treatment method on those type roads.
“There is no one fix for everything,” Cassada told the board.
They discussed different methods and materials that could be used and Cassada said that the paver would work best on roads with a good base that were built to state-aid standards and able to handle heavy truck traffic. He likened the paving of some county roads to covering mud with a sheet of paper.
DBST is a method of pavement construction that involves two separate applications of asphalt binder material and mineral aggregate on a prepared surface. It is used for surfacing roads and streets, parking areas, open storage areas, and airfield shoulders.
Cassada said they may not be able to do a lot of paving each year, but it could give them some opportunity.
“Y’all just need a lot of tricks in your bag, you're going to have to be really, really creative to keep these roads from completely falling apart, ” he added.
Supervisor Dennis Holmes initially questioned the possibility of hiring other counties with paving crews to do the work and use the money they would spend on the paver to do other roadwork, but Donald explained that he had spoken with other county road officials and they were just as busy repairing their own roads and wouldn’t have time to work on Sunflower County’s roads.
Supervisor Riley Rice raised a question about where the money was coming from to purchase the paving materials after they bought the paver, but after a response from Donald, Rice made the motion and Holmes seconded, noting that he wasn’t for it at first although he did specify, “The road managers need to realize this needs to be used on state-aid roads not every little country road that we got,” Holmes said.
The issue was originally tabled, after pricing information was presented at a previous meeting, because it wasn’t a budgeted item. But according to Donald, Supervisor Gloria Dickerson and County Administrator Gloria McIntosh were able to find the money in bridge/road fund to cover the expense.
In other business
The board heard a presentation from FTS Ambulance Service representative Polly Overton regarding becoming a non-contractual ambulance service provider for the county.
MedStat would still serve as the county’s emergency service provider and FTS would be there to assist in the event Medstat trucks were tied up on other calls. All emergency calls would still go to Medstat but FTS would be on standby with no charge to the county.
The board heard a proposal from the road managers regarding adjusting road worker’s pay based on experience and skill, but it was tabled for discussion in a work session.
The board added three more roads in the southern part of the county to the winter closure list, TV Tower Road, Lannie Moore Road and Cutoff Road.
They also discussed how to handle situations where landowners fill in county ditches and use them to extend their crops and when they tear up county roads to run irrigation pipes. Cassada suggested they use the boring method on all of the roads but said they could look at it on a case-by-case basis.
The board heard updates on several bid projects including the Sunflower Bridge project in which bids are due to be opened Dec. 18.
The county voted to approve a board order based on a suggestion from Holmes asking the legislature to allow them to levy an additional $25 fee to the personal motor vehicle tag cost, which would generate almost three quarters of a million dollars per year, based on the 29,800 tags sold, to the county budget for roads. Cassada said it was a good idea.
They also voted to approve the use of MS Court Collections for six months to collect delinquent garbage fees and revisit the decision in May.
Finally, the board voted to enter into a contract with Townsend, McWilliams and Holladay law firm beginning in January, the contractual arrangements are the same as McWilliams’ current contract. Board Attorney Johnny McWilliams is currently classified as a county employee but will be retiring from that status and by law McWilliams will have to sit out for 90 days, in the interim another lawyer will assist the board. The move will result in a savings to the county.
