Bowsky opposes votes on engineer
By Ernest Herndon | Enterprise-Journal
Posted: 11/21/08 - 11:34:48 am CST
The Pike County Board of Supervisors president said he will vote against any payments or projects involving the county engineer, whom he claims has ignored the needs of his district.
On Thursday, board president Tazwell Bowsky voted against four measures, ranging from payment for Nick Rutter’s engineering fees to granting utility easements.
The matter came up before Rutter arrived at the meeting when the board voted to pay him $23,209 for services on a road paving project. The money will be reimbursed by the Department of Transportation’s State Aid Division.
“I am not going to vote to pay Mr. Rutter anything because of my commitment to Pike County, especially District 1,” Bowsky said.
“I have a problem with Mr. Rutter not helping do projects for District 1.”
The board voted 3-1 to pay the bill, with supervisors Venton Ray Adams, Lexie Elmore and Chuck Lambert approving and Bowsky opposing. Gary Honea was absent.
The dispute resurfaced later, with Rutter present when the board voted on a motion to pay him $1,080 for getting an estimate on paving Quail Ridge Road.
Supervisors have discussed accepting the neglected private road as public, paving it and levying special tax assessments on its residents — a proposal Bowsky opposes.
Bowsky maintained that it would be illegal to pay Rutter for preparing the estimate since the road is private.
“How can we be using Mr. Rutter to do this when it (the road) hasn’t been accepted?” Bowsky said.
Board attorney Wayne Dowdy agreed that supervisors can’t work on the road while it’s private, but he said they can legally get estimates, appraisals and surveys on private property if they pertain to possible public projects.
“I do not see that this violates the law. It’s legal,” Dowdy said.
Elmore sided with Bowsky. “To me it’s illegal to do,” she said.
The board voted 2-2 to pay Rutter, and the motion failed. Lambert asked Dowdy to get an attorney general’s opinion on the matter.
Dowdy warned supervisors against putting the needs of their districts above those of the county as a whole, since the county is under the unit system of government, which Pike County voters approved years ago to replace the beat system.“I’ve been troubled recently by what I see as this board’s failure to follow the intent and letter of the law in the County Reorganization Act,” Dowdy said, also taking blame for not reminding supervisors.
He quoted the law: “You shall operate on a county-wide system of road administration. There shall be no road districts.”
Supervisors thanked him for the reminder.
Next Bowsky voted against utility permits for the City of Magnolia to lay pipe from the Love’s Truck Stop site to the town sewer system along county rights-of-way, and for Magnolia Electric Power Association to relocate power lines on Old Highway 24. Both measures passed 3-1.
“I’m just not going to support anything that Mr. Rutter has to do in this county because I feel that Nick is not adequately serving all of Pike County,” Bowsky said.
He asked Rutter why the Federal Highway Administration recently listed River Ridge Road as high risk, qualifying it for federal funding. Bowsky suggested Summit-Holmesville Road should have made the list.
Rutter said a 2006 school bus wreck on River Ridge Road that sent 24 children to the hospital was the tipping point. He said he had nothing to do with the decision.
Bowsky said he is preparing a report citing accidents on Summit-Holmesville Road and how much money has been spent on it.
the hospital was the tipping point. He said he had nothing to do with the decision.
Bowsky said he is preparing a report citing accidents on Summit-Holmesville Road and how much money has been spent on it.
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Augustus wrote on Nov 21, 2008 11:41 PM: