money from the county's reserves and hiring contractors to help fix its county roads.
The road conditions and progress by the Road and Bridge Department were discussed during Thursday's meeting.
"We are short on staff here," said Presiding Commissioner Jim Blumenberg. Of the approximately four miles of quarter- to half-mile stretches the commission planned to repair this year, only about one mile was complete as of Thursday. While commissioners budgeted $175,000 for the repairs, only about $23,500 was reported spent as of Thursday morning, according to County Clerk Junior DeLay.
Commissioner Steve Jones suggested the county hire contractors to finish a couple of stretches in this year's plan.
"If we don't speed up, we're not going to get near getting it done this year," he said. "I think we should get some estimates for help. We've got to think of ways to get done what we set out to do."
Citing the bad condition of several of the roads, Blumenberg suggested the commission move additional money from its reserves in order to get as much work done over the next month, before the temperatures cool at night, as possible.
"A lot of these roads are going to fall apart and turn into nothing over the next year or definitely by 2012," said Blumenberg. "We are going to face a disaster."
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