Menu
County not obligated to maintain road
McCOOK, Nebraska -- Red Willow County, Nebraska, is not obligated by law to maintain a graveled road in a subdivision northeast of McCook.
Also, trying to maintain his policy of treating everyone equally, commission chairman Earl McNutt made a motion, seconded by fellow commissioner Steve Downer, not to accept a petition from Calabria Subdivision residents requesting that the county take over their road as a county road maintained at county expense.
County Attorney Paul Wood said at a commissioners' weekly meeting Monday morning that because the Calabria road does not meet either City of McCook or Red Willow County road standards, the county has no obligation to maintain it. Wood said that according to an on-site inspection by the county's roads superintendent, Lloyd Smith of Valentine, the Calabria roads are not wide enough to meet county road standards, which require a minimum width of 20 feet with three-foot shoulders.
The Calabria roads may have been designed that way in a plat (design) approved by the City of McCook 11 years ago, Wood said, but they were not then built to any standards. "There is no evidence that the Calabria roads were ever built to any standards. What physically happened does not match" the plat presented to and approved by the city, Wood said.
Developer George Giorgione said to Wood, "I done what the city told me to do," and then to commissioners, "You didn't maintain it (the road) for 11 years. What do you expect?" Giorgione questioned why he was even at the meeting, and then stormed from the commissioners room.
Wood told commissioners McNutt, Downer and Vesta Dack that while the board can legally accept the petition, it would be setting a precedence that would allow every other subdivision to request the same treatment for its roads. If the county were to accept the Calabria road as a county road before it was brought up to county standards, the county would be required to bring it up to standards and then continue to maintain it, Wood explained during discussions of the past several weeks.
"You can't do for one and not for all," Wood said.
McNutt agreed, explaining that his motion to deny the petition has nothing to do with Giorgione, or with any Calabria residents personally. "I want to handle all subdivisions equally," McNutt said. " ... as I have for the past 12 years."
Calabria resident Doug Joyce asked commissioners, legal obligation aside, whether accepting the petition and maintaining the Calabria road may be simply "the right thing" to do because of bus routes and mail routes into and out of the subdivision. Fellow resident Adam Wilhelmson said, "I know it's an expense, but it might be the right thing to do."
Wood said that the county board would have to come to a consensus to define "the right thing," and decide how far to go and where to start and stop. The answer right now, he said, is is in the statute.
Commissioner Vesta Dack agreed with Joyce and Wilhelmson, saying, "It's distasteful to me that, as a county, we can't help." Dack voted against McNutt's motion and Downer's second to deny the residents' petition.
McNutt said the subdivision road situation may be addressed in the county's zoning regulations that are in the process of being updated.
Wood strongly recommended that, if the board is considering simply blading and graveling the Calabria roads because it's the "right thing to do," commissioners write a policy "so it can be applied in the future evenly and equally. You can do it," Wood said, "But you'll regret it without a policy."
McNutt told Calabria residents to get their roads up to county or city standards (whichever is more stringent), "and then we'll revisit it." Downer agreed.
Calabria resident Adam Wolford asked commissioners to look objectively at the Calabria subdivision as an opportunity for economic development. "There's the opportunity to develop 20 to 22 more lots," Wolford said. The roads are a small part of development possibilities, he said.
Wood told Calabria residents that any engineer they might hire to look at their roads should work with the county's roads superintendent and his study of the roads. "Identify which standard is more stringent," Wood said, "Work with the county's agent. Literally do it (bring the roads to standards) and have the county inspect it."
Joyce said residents can't get Giorgione and his wife (who are the homeowners' association) to improve their roads, and now they can't get the county to improve their roads. He asked about creating a special taxing district for the subdivision's roads improvements, and Wood told him that yes, there are statutes and procedures to do just that.
Dale Dueland said that Pierson Addition residents hired an engineering firm and created an improvement district, explaining that residents "imposed an assessment upon ourselves," to pay for road improvements and maintenance.
Red Willow County Sheriff Gene Mahon said that he suspended routine drive-throughs of the Calabria Subdivision pending Lloyd Smith's determination whether the subdivision's roads had indeed been dedicated to public use when they were built, and were no longer private property only.
Mahon told Calabria residents and commissioners that he and his officers would have responded as usual, and according to state statute, to any calls at the subdivision.
Routine drive-throughs by sheriff's officers resumed after discussion and action on the Calabria roads during the commissioners' meeting Monday morning.
During budget talks, commissioners recommended that elected officials work with a tentative proposal for raises, calculating them at the same rate as last year: $50 a month for 40-hour-work week employees; $43.75 for 35-hour-work week employees; and 30 cents/hour for part-time employees.
McNutt said commissioners are waiting for the county's valuation before deciding definitely on raises. County Assessor Sandra Kotschwar said there would be "some growth" in ag land valuation increases, but "not a lot of growth" in McCook.
Commissioners encouraged elected officials and county employees to recognize the value of the single and family insurance benefits provided by the county, although some changes are inevitable, he said, because the cost of insurance is continually increasing.
Clerk of the District Court Bev Dodge agreed, suggesting that county employees could stand a bigger deductible or higher co-pay. "We have a great benefit," Dodge said. "A 'Cadillac plan,' a blessing."