County avoids confrontation over County Line culvert

Culvert was installed on portion of road maintained by town of Mayville but Taylor County paying a portion

Taylor County will pay for a portion of a bridge built by Clark County on County Line Road.

The road forms the border between the two counties and between the town of Mayville in Clark County and Little Black in Taylor County. The two towns have historically had a handshake agreement between the chairmen splitting the miles each town maintained.

According to Dan Hoffman, of Little Black, they had historically maintained the first, third and fifth miles while Mayville maintained the even miles. The bridge in question was in one of the sections Mayville maintained and in 2020 Little Black was approached about the bridge and the plan to have it replaced.

Little Black approached county highway commissioner Ben Stanfley and the project was going to be worked into the bridge program. However, in the meantime, Mayville’s board moved forward with working with the Clark County highway department to get it replaced under that county’s bridge program.

Under the bridge program, the cost is split with the county paying half and the town paying half.

At Tuesday’s highway committee meeting, commissioner Ben Stanfley said they had been told multiple times that Clark County would pick up the 50% county match of the bridge.

Things changed with the death of the longtime Mayville town chair and a Clark County Court decision between two municipalities there over responsibility of a shared road section. This got the state involved and it was set that regardless of which section of road was being maintained, in shared border roads bridge costs were to be divided between each municipality and their respective counties.

Adding to this is that the culvert installed by Clark County was a five-foot wide plastic pipe. Taylor County specifications allow plastic culverts up to four feet wide. However, it was noted that they put additional fill over the top of the culvert, which is expected to help with its longevity.

“We are kind of getting the shaft,” Hoffman said, noting that if the culvert fails in the next 10 years Mayville will be on the hook for the whole cost of replacing it. He also said they are putting a new agreement in writing with Mayville saying Little Black will maintain the first three miles in a row rather than alternating miles.

Stanfley explained that under state rules any major maintenance, the town each will have to pay half of the cost. He noted they were not aware of that rule until this situation.

“It is as gray as it gets,” Stanfley said. Taylor County’s portion of the culvert replacement is $9,609. He said he would support making an exception to the specifications for the culvert material. “It is not fair to stick Little Black with the bill,” he said.

Committee members agreed and voted to approve the bridge aid request.

In other bridge aid requests, the town of Deer Creek is planning to replace three existing bridges in a milesection of Elm Ave. with four new bridges. The projects will be designed in 2023 with construction to take place in 2025 in order to have better timing for letting out the bid.

Stanfley noted that with those projects in a close area it should attract interest from contractors for the work. Because these are bridge replacements, the state bridge aid program will pay 80% of the cost of the project with the town and county each paying 10%.

The first bridge will be a 12 foot span and have an estimated county cost of about $65,899 with about $11,799 to be spent next year and the remainder in 2025 based on the actual bridge construction cost.

The second bridge to be replaced is at the intersection of Robin Drive and Elm Ave. The natural channel of the waterway was diverted when the existing road was built. The DNR wants the waterway restored and two crossings built. The total cost of this will be about $1 million with the county’s 10% of the project being about $119,765. It breaks down to $19,176 for engineering next year and the cost of the construction in 2025.

The other bridge on Elm Ave. will be two-span structure with $14,031 for design work next year and about $74,353 for the construction in 2025.

In addition the town of Browning will be replacing a bridge on Grahl Drive at a total estimated cost of $65,899.

The county’s portion of the bridge projects goes as a special levy for all the municipalities in the county who participate in the bridge aid program.

Committee members approved the bridge aid requests.

  In other action, committee members approved the lease with Bug Tussel to construct a communication tower on highway department land at the Gilman Shop location. Under terms of the lease, the county would receive $400 per month for rent of the land and $100 per month for every additional provider that places equipment on the tower. The approval was made pending review of the contract by the county’s attorney.

  Received word that the county was awarded $107,000 from the state to upgrade the brine system at the Gilman shop. The county pre-treats the roads with the brine which helps prevent snow and ice from adhering to it and reduces the overall amount of salt needed to clear roads in the winter. Commission members also received word that the state will be paying the county $58,000 more for work along state highways in the county in 2023. The state contracts with counties to maintain the state highway system and Stanfley noted this will allow them to do more maintenance next summer on those roads. This benefits Taylor County because the staffing and equipment hours will be billed against the state funds rather than local tax dollars.