Martin County Highway Superintendent Scott Seals advised the commissioners that he has received several complaints of damage to county roads and roads being destroyed due to heavy farm and truck equipment. At least two complaints have been received in the past week, and there have already been four to six this month alone. Recently, damages have occurred to recently chip-sealed roads and roads that are getting ready to be paved. Seals is advising residents who witness damage to county roads to call the sheriff’s department and file a report, take pictures and videos, and get the license plate number.
Seals also wants to remind residents that culverts under a property owner’s driveway are their responsibility to keep clean and are not the responsibility of the county.
Attorney Dave Lett gave an update on bridge 44 on Deep Cut Lake Road, which was damaged by a truck driver in the summer of 2021. He indicated that nothing has been satisfactory to make any progress with the insurance company for the driver who damaged the bridge. The next form of action may be filing a legal suit.
The commissioners were updated on the recent INDOT Community Crossing Matching Grants (CCMG-1), which included a 75/25% matching grant for 1 million dollars for Martin County, which is the first time the county has reached the million-dollar mark. An additional $619,340.25 for the City of Loogootee and $206,982.42 for the Town of Shoals were awarded as well. 224 Indiana cities, towns, and counties received a combined $133.4 million in state matching funds for local road projects through Community Crossings, a component of the Governor’s Next Level Roads program. Seals also informed commissioners that matching funds could be available for participating in CCMG-2.
Seals also inquired about reducing a position at the highway garage in favor of an increase in pay. This will leave 10 positions vacant. The commissioners made a motion to proceed if the council is agreeable to transferring funds. Motioned by Aaron Summers and seconded by Roush.
In other news, Sheriff Greene submitted a request to replace the current Hobart dishwasher at the Martin County Security Center, which is believed to be in the range of 20 years old. The current unit has failed, and inmates and employees have been hand washing and sanitizing dishes, which is not ideal. Service to the unit in the past couple years has been in excess of 2 to 3 thousand dollars. Commissioners authorized the payment of up to 10,000 dollars to replace the dishwasher with a new Hobart commercial machine.
