By John Estridge
Sometimes it is confusing what the various governmental entities do. Apparently, even U.S. senators get confused.
County resident Richard Bishop addressed the Franklin County Council members Tuesday night, June 23, even though they can do nothing about his problem. Bishop was there because he said he was dutifully following the instructions from Sen. Todd Young’s office.
Bishop lives off a long road west of Indiana 101 at the top of Bonwell Hill. On the east side of Ind. 101, the road runs in front of the BMV, Tri-Health building and the Division of Children Services. It then intersects with Oxford Pike and runs another mile or so before it dead ends.
Since the construction of Ind. 101 split the road in the 1960s-70s, Bishop has been maintaining his road. For a while, his was the only house on the road. Now, there are three more houses on the road. Also, at one time, he owned a private campground. However, he said he could not compete with state and county campgrounds, so he closed his private campground.
He has been maintaining his road until a culvert failed. Bishop told council members due to no-till farming methods, cornstalks were washed off adjoining farm fields and stopped up the culvert in question, causing it to fail. When he tried to get contractors to bid on repairing the culvert, they saw where the U.S. government, through the Army Corps of Engineers, owns some of the land. With that knowledge, all the contractors refused to bid on the work. Thus, Bishop asked the Army Corps and Indiana Department of Natural Resources to look over the situation and tell him who owns the road and who is responsible for its upkeep.
Through a lengthy process, representatives from the federal and state agencies met at the property and told Bishop he does not own the road and cannot work on it. It is either owned by Franklin County or Brookville.
Since it is well north of the town limits, Bishop is guessing it belongs to the county.
Thus, Bishop said Sen. Young’s office sent him a letter, in part, telling him to attend a county council meeting to tell them of his situation.
And he did.
Council President Jeff Koch told Bishop council does not do anything with the county’s roads. Instead, it signs checks to pay bills or claims incurred by the county commissioners in fixing the county’s roads.
County Commission Vice President Tom Linkel was present at the council meeting, and he told Bishop to attend the next commissioners’ meeting at 10 a.m., Tuesday, June 30, and talk to the commissioners about the situation. And Linkel told Bishop, in the interim, he would go to the site and inspect the road and the entire situation.
In other business, council:
*Unanimously approved a transfer for $250 from Computer Maintenance to Equipment in the county clerk’s office and from Election Inspector $2,000 to Election Inspector also in the county clerk’s office.
*Heard from some of the county’s Health Board members who had a request to increase the county nurse’s salary from $43,051 per year to $47,804 per year. They said she is doing more than the county nurse’s duties. She is also in a supervisory capacity.
Koch said the matter will be addressed during the 2021 budget workshops, which will be held in August.
*Approved a $306.25 claim for Barada Law Office for preparing for and remotely attending the May 26 council meeting.
*Approved increasing the part-time guard and hourly rate from $10 to $12 an hour for part-time employees at the Franklin County Park. This is retroactive to January.
*Created a part-time clerical line for Franklin County Sheriff Peter Cates. A member of his clerical staff is on medical leave, and he needs to pay a part-time employee in her absence.