A county commissioner’s plans to introduce three road funding resolutions were tabled at Monday’s Limestone County Commission meeting.

District 4 Commissioner Ben Harrison had planned to introduce a resolution to create an equalization fund that would have given per-mile funding parity among each of the four districts. He also planned to introduce resolutions that would have diverted money from the Simplified Seller’s Use tax and money given to Athens-Limestone Hospital and used it on roads instead.

Harrison requested the resolutions be taken off the agenda because District 3 Commissioner Jason Black was not at Wednesday’s work session when Harrison discussed the items.

“I would like for (Black) to be able to ask questions,” Harrison said.

Though Harrison withdrew his road funding resolutions, the commission did approve a budget revision that provided $210,000 in new funding for county roads. The money was made possible from an excise payment made by banks to the state. The state then divvied up the money among the counties.

Chairman Collin Daly decided to use the county’s windfall on roads, which equals $52,500 for each district.

Public hearing

Also Monday, residents in West Limestone made their feelings known about a road some described as a necessity and others described as a dangerous eyesore.

As part of Monday’s Limestone County Commission meeting, a public hearing was held to consider vacating a portion of Buzzard Roost Road, an unpaved, sparsely populated farm road.

The request to close the road was made by Gil Johnson, whose family has owned land in West Limestone for 200 years. He said, as a teen, his life was threatened twice after catching someone dumping trash and also illegally deer hunting on property off Buzzard Roost Road.

He said the road is a haven for dumping and stealing timber. He added the road “goes nowhere” and asked the commission to close it.

“If you want a couch, hot tub or television, we’ve got plenty,” Johnson said. “There’s zero use for (the road).”

Danny Lewis said he supported Johnson’s petition to close the road. He said it had been a “constant battle” to fight the garbage dumps. Items he’s commonly found include box springs, televisions, bathroom fixtures, truck tires and environmentally hazardous items like paint cans and oil cans.

“It’s obvious the county doesn’t have the resources to keep the road clean,” he said.

A few people spoke in favor of keeping the road open, including Michael Harrison, a landowner on Buzzard Roost. He presented the commission with petitions containing more than 500 signatures to keep the road open.

“We’d rather see it maintained as opposed to it being closed,” he said.

Eric Neikirk told commissioners he has a small farm in Bethel, Tennessee, and uses the road to access it. He also doesn’t want to see the commission close another road.

“We have a history of closing these rural roads and now we’re going to lose another one. We’re losing our rural heritage and our taxes are increasing,” he said. “I don’t think that’s very good.”

District 4 Commissioner Ben Harrison said he was glad to receive the feedback on the road, and explained the commission has 100 days to take action. If the commission takes no action or denies the petition, Johnson could choose to sue the county or appeal the denial in civil court.

“It’s fair to know what your options are,” Harrison said.

Road reports

Finally, commissioners gave updates on road projects in their districts, including the ongoing widening of East Limestone Road in front of East Limestone High School.

District 2 Commissioner Steve Turner described the project as “a pain,” but added crews from Wiregrass Construction were to begin putting down asphalt Monday. He didn’t know how many days it would take to complete the resurfacing.

Crews are also working on Newby Road between Mooresville and Gray roads. The commission voted in August to hire Rogers Group to repair and resurface the road at a cost of $469,078.

Turner said crews were cutting driveways and were to set milling and putting asphalt back down as early as Tuesday morning. He said it would take 10 days to finish resurfacing the road if rain or storms don’t interfere.

Harrison said work continues this week on Lentzville Road, but crews had finished strip-patching with the milling machine. Other work includes a scrub seal, which uses smaller rock to fill in cracks of 1/8th inch or less. Once that’s completed, a fog seal application will be made to the top layer.

Once crews finish on Lentzville, they will begin milling portions of Lydia Corey Road. Persimmon Tree Road will be after that.

“I’ve got 11 more days (of road work),” Harrison said. “I’m exceedingly happy with what we’ve got accomplished.”

Other business

In other business Monday, the commission:

• Changed the date of the Wednesday, Oct. 2, work session to Tuesday, Oct. 1;

• Approved a grant with the North Central Alabama Highway Safety Office for overtime traffic safety enforcement from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, 2020;

• Approved the Alabama Department of Youth Services long-term detention subsidy contract to provide one detention bed for use by the juvenile court at the Tennessee Valley Juvenile Detention Facility from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, 2020, with no cost to the county;

• Hired Justin Butram as corrections officer, pending a drug screening;

• Hired Sharon Davis as a full-time van driver for the Council on Aging, pending a drug screening;

• Gave preliminary and final approval to Big Creek Farm subdivision northeast, a two-lot minor subdivision on the west side of Tillman Mill Road and 1 mile south of the intersection with Elk River Mills Road in District 4;

• Gave preliminary and final approval to New Cut Road subdivision, an eight-lot minor subdivision 500 feet west of Alabama 99 and New Cut Road in District 4;

• Gave preliminary and final approval to the replat of lots 1-3 of the Johnson Road subdivision, a three-lot minor subdivision 750 feet north of the intersection of Johnson and Lewis roads in District 1;

• Gave final approval to Phase 4 of Browns Crossing, a 69-lot major subdivision at the end of Norfleet Circle, Eva Circle and Dieken Drive in District 2; and

• Approved extending the Limestone County farmers market schedule to include being open on Saturdays through November.