Longstanding problems on Gerald and Madison streets in Waynesville still aren’t fixed — in fact, council members say the torn-up street looks worse than it’s ever been due to ongoing repair efforts.
“I went out and looked at Gerald and Madison streets; it was a mess, but it can’t be helped,” said Councilwoman Diana Stanford during Thursday evening’s Waynesville Road and Grounds Committee meeting.
Residents have loudly protested past delays by the city in repairing their roads, but City Administrator Bruce Harrill said that doesn’t seem to be happening now that repairs are underway. Harrill said he’d heard no complaints; according to him, the street is well-designed and people have consistently had access to their homes despite construction.
Harrill said the delays have happened because of unforeseen problems, including finding that concrete pieces for drains were the wrong size and a sewer line had to be replaced. Other problems included hitting an unexpected level of rock under the street.
Street department worker Brian Adams explained the sewer problems.
“They hit one line that nobody knew was there; they thought it was dead, they were told it was dead, but in the morning it was all full of sewage so that delayed things a little,” Adams said.
The dirt and rock torn out of the Gerald and Madison street area isn’t going to waste.
Adams said street workers have moved 70 truckloads so far from the street project and used it to fill in the now-closed Waynesville city pool.
In addition to street construction projects, committee members also discussed what to do about certain Waynesville streets that are difficult to plow in winter months. Those streets include Faye Court, Oak Ridge, Long Drive, Bluff Circle, Cedar Street, the hill area of Skyline Drive, Wildwood, Courtney Court, Laurie, Royal Road and Viren Road.
Harrill presented several options including parking on only one side of the street during snow and ice events and parking on one side of the street until that side has been cleared.
Adams said there may be better options.
“Up north where it snows from November to March, they park on the even side one day, and the odd side the other day,” Adams said. “That’s what they do in the big cities up north, they don’t have designated snow routes, and they have no problem at all.”
Adams said most Waynesville streets aren’t a problem, except for Harrill’s list of narrow streets.
“We can still have two lanes plowed with cars parked on both sides on most streets; they’re wide enough,” Adams said.
Stanford cautioned that a change will be confusing.
“You want to keep it simple,” Stanford said.
“Whatever we do, it will take a big public relations campaign to make if effective,” said Councilman Alan Clark.
Snow removal is also an issue on Polla Road, which is maintained by the city of Waynesville and runs to the west gate of Fort Leonard Wood. Coordination meetings are planned between Waynesville and Fort Leonard Wood officials on that issue.
That’s good, Stanford said.
“I hope they can coordinate a little better than they have in the past, like locking the gate and giving us no key to open it,” Stanford said.
Adams said it’s important to stop some of the lack of communication that’s happened in the past with Waynesville snowplow crews spending hours clearing Polla Road only to find that Fort Leonard Wood officials decided to close and lock the west gate.
In other business:
• Alan Clark raised an issue that wasn’t on the agenda: failure by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide adequate funding to rebuild the city’s utility shed.
“What was the latest from our friends from FEMA about our buildings?” Clark asked. “If we wait for FEMA, we’ll be waiting until the cows come home. I’m a little put out by FEMA; thank God we don’t have hurricanes, that’s all I’ve got to say.”
• Harrill announced that Street Superintendent Gary Humphrey will be retiring Oct. 15, with a cookout planned the previous day.
• Harrill said Mayor Cliff Hammock is planning to run future cemetery issues through the Road and Grounds Committee rather than a special cemetery advisory committee that he created earlier.
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