Commissioners disagree with submitted letter

WINSTON COUNTY - A letter presented to the Winston County Commission filled with questions and concerns over road conditions throughout Winston County has sparked outrage among the commissioners.
Jack Wade, a resident of Paradise Pointe subdivision, who had been attending commission meetings voicing road concerns, recently approached Commission Chairman Roger Hayes and Commissioners Bobby Everett and David Cummings with a printed list of eight questions and concerns that residents from across the county had about roads.
After passing out copies to each of the commissioners, Wade said, “I certainly don’t expect any response here today, but you are invited to respond online.”
Wade was referring to a Facebook site called Winston County Roads and Highways, where residents post questions or concerns about roads.
“I don’t do online,” Hayes interjected. “I’ll answer them face-to-face, but I don’t do that. I am not being sarcastic.You are not going to win at that deal there, but I will be glad to answer any questions.”
“We’ve been compiling concerns from citizens throughout the county about road conditions and the needs they have,” Wade pointed out. “From those we compiled, these (are) questions for the candidates for road commissioners in the 2022 election so that would help the voters have a more wise decision on who to vote for in the election.  It’s a general statement that informed voters are smart voters."
The goal in submitting the letter, Wade continued, is to see road conditions improved countywide.
“I know county commissioners have a lot of other things on their plate, but road conditions are something that affect everybody in the county every day, so we need some improvements,” Wade pointed out.
The letter presented to commissioners read, “Many county roads are in poor condition. Repairs are slow and requests are ignored.”
The letter continued that many repairs are temporary band-aids, requiring more work soon afterwards.
“Requests to fix potholes are met with materials being dumped on or near them, but they are not repaired,” the letter continued.
“Roads and bridges are being closed for unreasonable periods of time due to dangerous conditions, with no information forthcoming regarding when the roads or bridges will reopen,” the letter read.
The letter then cited as an example the bridge on County Road 4, which has been closed since ?.
The following is a list of questions presented to commissioners in the letter:
1) What will you do to improve the current work order procedure?
2) What will you do to improve the quality of repairs being performed?
3) How will you prioritize needed repairs?
4) What will you do to keep citizens informed about the schedule of completing repairs?
5) How would you solve the problems of shortage of personnel, acquiring materials and having operational equipment available to perform the work?
6) How would you assess the condition of all county roads, culverts and bridges (once you have identified the ones the county is responsible for) and create a plan to upgrade them?
7) How would you help improve county revenue in order to provide additional funding for our roads and bridges?
Hayes began by saying the list of items would be impossible for the county to accomplish.
“It’s unrealistic. It’s not possible,” Hayes pointed out. “I understand people being concerned, and we try to keep them updated as best we can, but if we agreed to do all that stuff (in the letter), we would spend a lot of time spinning our wheels.
“If anybody from the commission told somebody, whoever they are, that we’d do something, we need to do it,” Hayes stated.  “That’s not too much to expect out of your elected officials, but if we can’t do it, then we owe them the courtesy of saying we can’t do this.”
Hayes stressed that county employees do not work on a particular schedule.
“Our schedule is based on what the state does and federal (government) does,” Hayes exclaimed.
Grants often are not received due to state or federal regulations concerning the grant that have been changed, according to Hayes.
“We also have to do bids, and rebids, on all of these projects.  If they rebid them, that changes the whole schedule out,” Hayes pointed out.
“We have to depend on the weather being right. We have to depend on workers showing up. We have to depend on if the (COVID-19) virus doesn’t hinder us. It’s been going on two years,” Hayes continued.
Another major factor that can cause delays in road work would be the county having difficulty in receiving parts when vehicles break down, Hayes explained.  One vehicle breakdown could not be fixed for almost a year due to these delays, he pointed out.
“Can we help that? No,” Hayes said. “Can the dealers help that? No, because you can’t get parts.”
Hayes cited a project on Newburg Road where the state pulled the funds allotted for the project.
“We couldn’t do the widening of Newburg Road. Could we help that? No,” he further exclaimed. “We couldn’t help it, and we couldn’t get our money back on it either.
“We need to do the best we can with what we’ve got, and that is what we’re trying to do,” Hayes pointed out. “I don’t know what else to tell them.”
If anyone has any concerns, they are urged to contact the commission or road department or attend the commission meetings, Hayes pointed out.
“But to hand us a list of stuff and say we want answers to this? That is not going to happen,” Hayes pointed out, “because the scheduling (of these projects) is not solely up to us.  It’s up to somebody else.”
Everett addressed specific questions as well as the list of questions as a whole.  He directly addressed the question regarding the quality of repairs performed by the county.
“First of all, a commissioner’s job is to hire good engineers and let them look into the situation on the road conditions and what is to be repaired on the road based on ALDOT, the engineers and staff there,” Everett continued.
“You don’t go through anything on your own without going through the engineers,” Everett stated. “They are the ones who have the degree.”
Everett then responded to statements in the letter asking when the bridge on County Road 4 would reopen.
“We have to wait on notice to proceed on bridges and conditions of snails and turtles and things we have to follow from ALDOT,” Everett said.
Everett was referring to environmental studies that have to be completed and approved by ALDOT before a project can proceed.
“Here’s a condition for you,” cited Everett, “A storm, a pandemic, workforce loss, less people wanting to work--that is going on all over the nation. It’s also going on in Winston County.”
Winston County’s entire budget is around $6.7 million, compared to some surrounding counties, one of which has a budget of $22 million, county officials explained.
“I think we do pretty good with the amount of roads we have and the conditions we have,” said Everett.
One of the questions in the letter was a statement followed by a question on this subject.  “As previously noted, only nine of the 18 Rebuild Alabama projects for 2021 were completed,” the letter stated. “We don’t know what number of projects for 2020 were completed.
“The unused funds will be forfeited if an extension is not requested, or if they aren’t completed in 2022,” the letter continued.
The letter then asked, “How would you manage state funds to expedite the completion of Rebuild Alabama projects each year? Will you keep the public informed regarding the progress of these projects?”
Everett responded, “The citizens need to always remember we are doing more with less. And we have a vision and a plan.”
Gas tax proceeds, based on the Rebuild Alabama Act, are going directly toward road and bridge needs throughout the state, commissioners stated.
“Our local budget will not handle all of the roads we have,” Everett stressed. “It has never been able to cover it. This (Rebuild Alabama) is a vision for the future.”
Roads, Everett continued, that are being tackled under Rebuild Alabama are rural and secondary roads instead of major collector roads.
When asked if the list turned in to commissioners was realistic, Everett responded no.
“You can’t do things outside your means,” he added.
Cummings pointed out that his district has a good system going with discussing work orders on road projects.
“For the funding for the projects that have not been done, that the money is allotted through the gas tax, that money is not going to be taken away from us,” Cummings pointed out.  It will be just rolled over until the next year until we can get caught up.
“The machine we do our chip seal paving with, we’re having trouble getting parts to repair,” Cummings continued. “We are still working on getting parts and getting that piece of equipment repaired, where we can do a lot of in-house paving ourselves.  Right now, the contractors are so far behind. We’re behind.”
Cummings added the public needs to understand Alabama has 67 counties and that all counties receive the gas tax funding.
“There are not enough contractors to get the projects done that are needing to be done,” Cummings said. “This is a statewide issue.
“...I am hoping with our manpower, our equipment working properly this summer and having a dry summer instead of a wet summer, we will be able to complete a lot of these projects in a timely manner,” Cummings noted.