CHARLESTON -- Irrigation is good for crops but bad for roads.
Commissioner Homer Oliver said during the regular Mississippi County Commission meeting Thursday that Richard Wallace, county road and bridge superintendent, attributes a significant amount of the county's road and bridge money goes to repairing damage done by irrigation water on county roads.
Wallace said 90 percent of all blacktopping repairs this year was related to damage from the "end guns" on irrigation systems spraying water on the roads, according to Oliver.
Many of the complaints about the condition of gravel roads are also directly related to water from irrigation systems. "They'll head down this road that's dry and then they hit a mud hole," Oliver said.
The county then has to haul gravel and use manhours to repair the hole.
The topic was first raised for discussion during the Aug. 30 County Commission meeting by Presiding Commissioner Jim Blumenberg.
"Mr. Blumenberg has said, and we agree, that next year the end guns are going to have to be turned off," Oliver said.
In other business Thursday:
* Butch McHaney, administrator of the Mississippi County Detention Center, presented commissioners with the results of the annual U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement inspection received Thursday.
"We got a 100 percent -- no deficiencies," McHaney said.
The inspection, conducted in early August, is required for the facility to hold ICE detainees.
* Commissioners reviewed a letter from John D. Hoskins, director of the Missouri Department of Conservation, which notes the department and counties "have a strong history of working together for the betterment of citizens."
The letter also credits county governments with being "a valued partner" in protecting and managing forest, fish and wildlife resources and that "results of working together with county governments clearly show we are making a positive difference for Missouri citizens."
A document sent with the letter shows the Conservation Department has 5,294 acres of the county's total 274,502; paid $23,702 in lieu of tax payments in 2006; and has five employees living within the county.