BENTONVILLE -- Rainy weather and equipment problems have combined to slow Benton County road work this year.
County Judge Bob Clinard said Friday the Road Department has done about 22 miles of paving work. The plan laid out for the department earlier this year called for 53 miles of paving work to be done.
Road plan
Benton County adopted a 2016 road plan program calling for 53.25 miles of paving work to be done at a cost of about $2.7 million.
Source: Benton County
"They are behind, but not critically behind," Clinard said. "We're going to start working overtime to try and get as much done as we can. We've got the money for the overtime in our budget, and we're going to use it."
Brenda Guenther, comptroller, said the county budgeted $75,000 for overtime in the Road Department this year. As of Friday, $33,760 had been spent.
Jay Frasier, the county's public services administrator, said in an email both county paving machines are out of service. The chip-and-seal machine is having computer problems that need to be resolved. The asphalt machine is having work done under a recall from the Caterpillar company. The asphalt machine is about 6 months old, Clinard said.
The mechanical issues have been even more frustrating because they came during a busy paving season, and the county has been unable to rent a replacement for the two weeks the machines will be out for repairs, Clinard said.
"Everybody is busy everywhere," Clinard said. "We haven't been able to find anybody who has a machine to rent."
Kurt Moore, justice of the peace, said the Quorum Court will monitor the overtime spending of the Road Department and will look at the amount of paving that is done this year when working on the 2017 budget. Moore also suggested the justices of the peace might be better served by more frequent updates on the Road Department. A county ordinance mandates the Quorum Court be given quarterly reports.
"If there's a problem developing, it's a lot easier to fix the problem earlier than it is later," Moore said. "If we don't know about it, we can't fix it, whether it's money for overtime, new equipment or personnel. I think that during the summer a monthly report might be better. During the winter a quarterly report is probably OK. But during the hot paving months, which is usually from April through October, I would think a monthly report would be better."
Pat Adams, chairman of the Transportation Committee, said he doubts the county will reach its goal of 53 miles of roads paved this year. Adams will push for some changes in how the Road Department operates, changes he has suggested in the past.
"I don't think the paving season is going to go long enough this year," Adams said. "We were lucky last year and had real good weather, but I've got a feeling this winter is going to hit us sooner rather than later. I don't think they'll have enough time to do 53 miles."
Adams would like to see the county hire a staff engineer for the Road Department. An in-house engineer could design paving projects to a professional standard and the county could bid them out to contractors whose work would be guaranteed, Adams said. County crews would do pavement overlays, maintenance and some prep work on paving projects.
"The county has not kept up with modern standards," Adams said. "They're still doing it like they did it 20 years ago because it may save the county some money. If we have an engineered design the contractor has to build it to the plan and guarantee it. If he gets it wrong, he has to come back and make it right. If the county does the work there's no guarantee. They just have to go back in and redo it."
NW News on 09/06/2016