Council in a rut on how to fix roads

Lack of action angers residents

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

— “I will spread the dirt on my own time and tractor,” Gateway resident Bob Bowman said, if the city delivered the gravel.

“OK,” said the mayor.

Bowman came to the Gateway City Council meeting May 10 because the road to his residence on Old House Road is impassible from damage from the recent storms.

He also attended April’s meeting trying to solve the problem.

The answer he got this month was to do the work himself.

Bowman said he has lived on Old House Road for 34 years and has never seen it in such poor condition.

Over the next few days, Bowman spent six hours on his tractor spreading a load of red dirt and five loads of limestone gravel.

“It’s just a Band-Aid,” he said.

“I’m glad to get something done, but it should be the responsibility of the city to do it.”

At the meeting, when Bowmanasked the mayor if there was a city plan concerning roads, Mayor White only shrugged.

“You have to have some sort of plan, you can’t just keep going month-to-month,” Bowman said.

Mayor White told Bowman to attend the city’s Planning Commission meetings if he was interested.

“I did last month,” Bowman said. “No one showed up.”

The council agreed there is too much damage to the city’s roads to only have a part-time grader on staff right now, but couldn’t come to an agreement on what the solution should be.

After firing the grader at last month’s meeting, rate of pay and amount of hours of work required held the council up from coming to a decision.

The group discussed putting an ad in the paper to hire an employee, contracting a county worker who can only work in Gateway on the weekends and selling the grader to use the money to repair the roads correctly.

“Something’s got to be done,” Mayor White said.

“Then make it happen,” council member Diane Nichols said.

After more discussion, Nichols said to the mayor, “You just do it.

Let’s move on to something else.”

The group passed an engine break noise ordinance four to one, with council member Cheryl Tillman opposed. Council member Joe McMahon expressed concern that the council was “spinning its wheels” with no police force to enforce the ordinance.

He suggested a sign be put up at the city’s limits in an attempt to control the noise issue.

“A sign is a sign,” Nichols said.

“If they go by it, fine. If they don’t, fine.”

“I don’t think (the noise) is all that bad,” said White.

In other business, the council:

◊ Passed ordinance 1107 regarding the sale of business licenses in town; and

◊ Discussed charges from city attorney JoAnne McCracken; and

◊ Discussed repairs and improvements to the city park, including running water lines for a hydrant, installing a flag pole, improving the walking trail, putting up a chain link fence, planting flowers and shrubs and painting a sign; and

◊ Discussed the mayor’s credit card limit. Any amount over $500 is required to be explained to thecouncil.

◊ Discussed putting the town on BCalert.com, a weather notification system that would provide e-mail, text and phone notifications to residents in the event of severe weather.

The council’s next meeting is set for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 14, at Gateway’s City Hall.

News, Pages 1 on 05/18/2011