BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Whether it was disapproval or a desperate plea for assistance, the ability for Bradford County Public Works to keep up with the summer demands for roadwork have been a hot topic during recent discussions.
The struggle spanned three meetings, with Commissioner Kenny Thompson attempting to declare an end to perceived attacks upon the department during the commission’s Sept. 11 budget workshop.
Disagreement actually began during the Sept. 3 county commission meeting with the usual praise awarded for the road department’s efforts. County Manager Scott Kornegay said the department had been “really been put to the test” following the rainfall during the recent tropical storm. Kornegay said the department performed outstanding work.
“I just want to thank Jason Dodds and his team for going above and beyond and doing the amazing work that they did,” he said.
Kornegay talked about Dodds’ contributions to the county as director of public works, saying his level of certification in construction, engineering and inspection services has saved the county more than $3.1 million that otherwise would have been paid to a private firm.
“Just by having Jason on the payroll, he’s saved Bradford County over $3.1 million in the last couple of years,” he said. “I think it’s important for the board to recognize, I think it’s important for the public to know, what a valuable asset Jason is.”
The comments were echoed by Commissioner Danny Riddick, who said. “I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit over the past couple of weeks, and I’ll ride around and see what’s going on, and it’s amazing what the road department gets done. I mean, that is a well-run machine. Even if Jason’s out sick or whatever, it just continues to keep going.”
Beyond construction and maintenance of transportation infrastructure, Riddick said employees respond to emergencies at all hours of the day and in many conditions when called upon, and Dodds is there with them operating chainsaws in the rain to clear roads or operating a mower to battle the summer growth.
But it was mowing — or the lack of it — that drew criticism from Commissioner Diane Andrews. She didn’t disagree with the accolades for Dodds and his department. In fact, she said they were deserved. But she had brought photos depicting the roadside overgrowth of grass and weeds in her district, which she had been calling to get the department to address prior the beginning of her recent reelection campaign.
“I called repeatedly asking for them to come out and mow some of the areas, and nobody came. So, I would call again and again. Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months. And because I was trying to get out and go door to door, I saw many of my roads,” she said, referring to the roads in District 5. On her own road, the weeds were many feet taller than her, she said, and even a 12-foot campaign sign was obscured by the overgrowth.
“I would go into housing areas. I wouldn’t even ask people for their support, because I was so ashamed of the condition of those roads,” she said.
Andrews suggested — since it was decided her photos would not be shown during the meeting — that someone visit District 5 and see for themselves.
“I don’t know why this has happened. Like I said, it was in the middle of an election. I was kind of wanting to put my best foot forward,” she said. “I understand that they’re very busy, but to you (Kornegay) and to Jason, I both recommended hiring new or more employees.”
Currently the department is staffed at 13 to serve the entire county. That’s about half the department’s former size.
“If we had 23, we need to hire 23 because we can’t keep up with the work that needs to be done. We can’t keep up with mowing. We definitely can’t keep up with cleaning out ditches and culverts,” she said.
Andrews questioned whether a serious look had been taken at scheduling.
“I have always supported Jason and I continue to support him. What I would like is for you to take a deeper look at what’s going on, because District 5 is part of Bradford County, too, and it deserves to be treated the same way,” she said.
“I know that we’re quick to explain that there’s 300 miles of road, and is that long, yes, but you need to find out what we can do to change that,” Andrews continued, saying her suggestion of using inmate work squads to “quadruple” the county’s road workforce — one employee supervising four inmates — has been ignored.
She said she recognizes the department struggles to keep up with the work, but the board needs to find a way to help.
Later that evening, the discussion continued following the board’s budget hearing. Kornegay presented a list of all the work performed by the road department during the months of July and August, broken down by each commissioner’s district. He said the breakdown showed an equal distribution of manpower.
The county manager also presented a request to purchase two new mowers and hire three additional employees.
Commissioner Chris Dougherty, referencing spending cautions from the clerk of courts’ finance department, objected to adding any more money to the budget to spend six months of the year mowing.
Noting the financial difficulty, Riddick was still in favor.
“I know it’s tough to spend the money, but at the same time, if we don’t do this, then we need to get off Jason’s back,” he said. With just 13 employees, the department is responsible for trash pickup, mowing, ditch and road maintenance and more. “They take care of all that. They do everything for the county,” he said.
Not approving a new fee to fund fire protection and remaining at a property tax rate of 10 mills, Riddick said the board had two options — stop complaining or go into debt and purchase the mowers.
Andrews asked for Kornegay’s opinion, and he said as a fiscal conservative, he agrees with Clerk Denny Thompson that the county “can’t keep going down the road we’re going when it comes to spending.”
“But Commissioner Riddick is absolutely correct when he says that if we’re not going to increase our spending to cover an additional level of service, then we need to be happy with where we’re at, because where we are is where we are,” he said.
Referring to the mowing that took place over the summer, Andrews again challenged others to see the overgrowth, saying she had no reason to lie.
“I have been a supporter of Jason and his crew ever since I got here, and will continue, but the truth is the truth, and right now it’s a mess. It’s a mess, and we’re not wet, and it could be mowed, but it’s just not,” she said, suggesting inmate work squads again or assigning a couple of employees to do nothing but mowing.
“We refuse even talk about it,” she said, advocating a schedule change that would place some employees who would normally be off duty on Friday onto mowers and giving them Monday off instead.
Andrews said she couldn’t stop talking about these issues.
“How would somebody even ask me to do something like that? Because I have to do my job, whether anybody else does their job or not. And so, I can’t. I can’t make that promise, Mr. Riddick,” she said.
Commission Chairwoman Carolyn Spooner said the issue is not confined to a single district, explaining a recently mowed area can be overgrown once again before the rest of the county is complete. It is a matter of health and safety, she said, as well as growth and economic development when it comes to selling Bradford County. But she was confident they could address it by working together.
Dougherty brought it back to the cost of providing services.
“You know, nobody wants to pay our fire assessment. Well, you know, now we’re talking about, people want their roads graded and mowed and ditches cut, everything else. I mean, at what point are we talking about a roadway assessment?” he asked. “Everybody wants certain things, but they certainly don’t want to have to pay for it. And I don’t want to have to pay for purchasing two more mowers when we’re in a situation that we’re just, you know, not good financially,”.
Unable to reach a consensus, the discussion continued again at the Sept. 10 budget workshop, this time with Commissioner Kenny Thompson present on the dais and ready to sound off.
“Every department in this county is valuable, but this department has been kicked. it has been belittled, it has been talked about, and we’ve got one of the best road superintendents that this county’s ever had,” he said, pointing out the number of hats Dodds wears. “This man has helped this county — unreal. And far as people ridiculing him, and the board’s ridiculing him, this stops tonight,” he declared, thanking Dodds for what he gets done with a small crew.
“You ain’t got no army, but look what y’all do when the storm comes,” Thompson said, mentioning the sleepless nights. “This man worked around the clock, but then you got people on this board that ridicules him. This is wrong board. This is wrong. We ought to appreciate him for what money he is making and this county’s giving him. His heart is in this county, so let’s take care of him. Don’t ridicule a man that’s working and, hey, best thing we ever had.”
Dougherty agreed.
“I just want to echo exactly what Commissioner Thompson said. And I think that there’s been some instances where some employees have been contacted directly. I think that’s wrong. I think that there’s a chain of command. Your employees answer to you. You answer to the county manager. The county manager answers to us, and that’s it. And nobody should be called for special favors,” he said. “I’m sorry if you’ve been put in that position, and I will back you 100%.”
Dougherty said whether before or after Dodds, the phones don’t stop ringing, but Dodds is doing the best with what he has, and that is appreciated. One day, with growth, the county could have a larger tax base and be able to provide more resources to all its departments, he said.
Riddick recently shared with a concerned constituent that the county has 13 road department employees and two mowers. District 5 alone takes 18 days to mow. And from one starting point it takes 45 days to get around the entire county and start again.
Andrews spoke up again.
“I would just like Jason to know that I won’t be calling anymore,” she said. “I’ll call Mr. Kornegay, and everything that we need done will run through his office. As well as Brooker received the message that you couldn’t help with projects anymore, so at least you won’t have to worry about that. So as far as our end (of the county), we will eliminate that pressure off of you, OK?”
Dodds, who was present to answer any budgetary questions for the board responded to Andrews’ comment about Brooker, saying it was regarding work on the planned fire station. He said he didn’t have staff to commit for that long of a period, but that was not to say the road department would not continue to efforts to help Brooker, Hampton and Lawtey.
Discussion returned to the reason for the budget workshop, and there was a presentation about using reserve funding to purchase a used mower and hiring an additional employee. Deputy Clerk Rachel Rhoden said the board could do so at its pleasure.
“The only thing I’m going to continue to repeat is that you all have not yet addressed fire rescue operations. We still have not set a budget workshop, or a workshop, to discuss that budget, and that spending that has been bleeding for the last few years. And so, I’m going to continue to caution every time we increase our spending and remind you all that we have got to address that budget,” she said, speaking up later for her use of the word “bleeding.” She said she didn’t mean to imply any funds had been mismanaged, as that is not the case. “In fact, I would say they’re very responsible. It’s more of that as a big department that takes a lot of funding, and we haven’t identified yet how to address that.”
There was no consensus to increase the public works budget for next year but continue working to look for ways to support the department. As Riddick said, if you don’t sharpen a dull axe, you will work yourself do death, and that is what is happening to the road department.
In other business:
—Kornegay said he and Dodds met with MHD Rockland at the Douglas building on U.S. 301 South, which the county acquired from the state and which the aerospace company intends to lease as an expansion of its operations at the Keystone Heights Airport. Kornegay said the company will only require half of the 25 available acres, leaving the remaining land for potential county development.
The county has also provided a first iteration of the lease agreement for MHD Rockland’s review.
