Washington County officials to give bridge inquiry results Tuesday

FAYETTEVILLE -- The Washington County Quorum Court will hold a special meeting Tuesday to hear the results of an investigation into the Road Department and how and why county bridges weren't built as designed.

Justice of the Peace Eva Madison and Assessor Russell Hill, who have been interviewing the department's employees in recent days, requested the meeting to present findings. County Judge Marilyn Edwards called the meeting Thursday.

Meeting information

Washington County Quorum Court

• When: 5:30 p.m. Tuesday

• Where: Quorum Courtroom of the County Courthouse, 280 N. College Ave. in Fayetteville

• On the agenda: The results of an investigation into the Road Department and county bridges.

Source: Washington County

Madison and Hill said they interviewed 15 or so people out of around 80, ranging from an hour to three hours or more at a time, with another scheduled Monday.

"We've gotten to the point where we're hearing the same things over and over again," Madison said. "Everybody that came to meet with us was very cooperative and open. We did have some people that declined to meet with us -- I'll leave it at that."

Madison declined to identify those employees or to share any findings, saying they might be premature before she and Hill consider and put together their report.

Still, she said, "I think once we give our report on Tuesday, people will be pleased with the amount of information that we've been able to uncover. There's not going to be as many unknowns."

Questions about the bridge building first arose in December when a Road Department employee sued county officials, including Edwards, claiming he was ignored and punished for pointing out problems at the Stonewall and Harvey Dowell bridges. A video released last month appeared to confirm some of the employee's claims and prompted county officials to redo Stonewall outside west Prairie Grove, put a 3-ton weight limit on Harvey Dowell and ask county and state agencies to look into the matter.

At Edwards' suggestion, the Quorum Court tapped Madison and Hill to begin an inquiry last week after the attorney general and district prosecutor declined. Carl Gales, founder of Fayetteville- based KAS Gales Consulting Engineers, helped as a consultant free of charge.

"I feel that it's gone very well, considering three people who didn't know each other before came together for this project," Hill said. "We all brought a different set of gifts and abilities."

Officials also continue drafting a request to the Arkansas Division of Legislative Audit to look into Road Department spending for any irregularities, county attorney Steve Zega said.

"Whatever the end result of the investigation is, I suspect that's going to be the beginning of the work," Zega said. Edwards was out of town.

Also Thursday, the State Highway and Transportation Department declined a request from Edwards to inspect bridges built in the past 20 years and X-ray the Harvey Dowell Bridge. The Highway Department typically inspects county bridges every two years.

The most recent inspections found all but one of the 46 bridges built since 1995 are in fair condition or better, Scott Bennett, the department director, wrote in a letter to the county. A 120-foot bridge on Kinion Lake Road west of Farmington has a partly undermined footing and is ranked "poor." It's scheduled for yearly inspection.

"Based on these inspection reports, and the fact that we have a relatively small staff responsible for inspections of almost 13,000 bridges that need to remain on track throughout the state, we do not believe it is necessary to inspect the Washington County bridges again until it is their turn in the cycle," Bennett wrote.

The department also doesn't have the equipment for a forensic X-ray, he wrote, suggesting the county look to a private engineering firm.

NW News on 05/01/2015

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