Ayers Provides Public Works Update

 

Stephens County is getting ready to move forward on paving a series of roads with SPLOST VI money.

County Administrator Phyllis Ayers said that nine roads will be paved this season with SPLOST funds.

Those are the north side of Memorial Drive, Sorrells Road, New Hope Road, Freeman Creek Road, Tower Road, Yonah Dam Road, East Silver Shoals Road, Rumsey Road, and Bruce Road.

Ayers said that these roads were chosen from the county’s list of poor and failing roads after much discussion amongst staff and commissioners.

“We rode the roads,” said Ayers. “The chairman did a lot of riding of those top roads in all five categories and he brought that back to the other board members and we were all pretty much in agreement those were the ones most traveled and most in need of repair.”

She said the exception was Sorrells Road.

“Sorrells was chosen because it feeds off of Memorial Drive,” said Ayers, explaining that it made sense to do those together.

Getting ready for paving these roads is just one of the many activities that the county’s public works department is working on right now.

Ayers said there are also two mowing crews running and that crews continue to respond to both emergency calls and normal work orders that are put in.

Since May 14, Ayers said that the public works department has completed more than 200 citizen work orders to catch up from what she calls a serious backlog of citizen complaints about severe pot holes, gravel roads, signs, pipes, driveway tie ins, drainage, and more.

She said that fixing pot holes was priority number one.

However, Ayers said that crews have completed a number of other major projects in that time as well.

“Some of the major repairs we did were to Waters Edge Drive and Rock Quarry Circle and then we replaced three pipes on Camp Mikell Road, Eastanollee Road, and Yonah Dam Road,” said Ayers. “Then, they graded the North Holcomb fire station site.”

Ayers said that with those projects done, the county is now doing as much work on SPLOST roads in house as it can to save money.

She said crews have some new equipment to help with that.

“We just recently received two new backhoes and a new motor grader,” said Ayers.

Ayers credited the public works department for its hard work over recent months.

The department is also doing this without a Public Works Director.

Ayers said that search is ongoing.