The road grader is back, but its homecoming sparked a new round of controversy amongst Macks Creek residents.
Taking up one side are irate citizens who say Mayor Joel Stoner overstepped the line by not bidding out the work to fix the road grader.
Though no one would go on the record, most believe the act of taking the road grader to the repair shop and having it fixed without the board’s prior approval was misappropriation of funds.
Monday night, the Board of Aldermen voted to pay a $3,800 repair bill after the work was already done.
Stoner says he authorized the work based on a motion made at the board’s September meeting to get the grader fixed.
He was unclear whether repairs needed to be bid out, however, he said everyone on the Board of Aldermen knew he was taking the grader to be fixed.
Besides the hydraulic pump, a number of other things needed to be fixed and added to the grader to get it running, Stoner said.
A warning light and back-up beeper were both added as safety features that are required by state law.
There were several complaints that the features were not needed.
Stoner also had the hydraulic lines replaced because he says they were “shot”.
It was another move several people said was not needed and only added to the expensive bill.
Stoner says the complaints don’t really bother him.
“Not everyone is always going to be happy,” Stoner said. “But the people on the west side of town are going to be happy when their roads are going to be fixed.”
On Tuesday the road grader was delivered and already Stoner says he had it running, trying to clear some clogged ditches.
A minor problem occurred, but the repairman was coming back out to fix it for free, Stoner said.
Macks Creek has spent thousands of dollars attempting to get the road grader running after purchasing it used.
The city was attempting to find a quick solution after the first used road grader the city bought was also beset with problems. Their hope was that one out of the two would work part of the time.
Unfortunately, most of the time, neither worked.

City has option of paying county to maintain roads

With the city’s own road grader in a repair shop most of the time, the city does have the option of contracting work through the Camden County Road and Bridge Department.
Through an agreement made between the city and the county, city roads that are adjoining county roads are already maintained by the county up to 1/4-mile.
In exchange, the county keeps a road tax it is supposed to pay back to Macks Creek for the costs of maintenance.
Road and bridge supervisor Gary Webster said the tax doesn’t amount to a lot of money, between $300-500 per year.
However, in the past Macks Creek has hired the Road and Bridge Department to grade city roads.
Webster said the last time it occurred was about a year ago. He charged the city about $75 an hour. He added the rate would likely higher now because of fuel prices.

Mayoral announcement

Mayor Joel Stoner said he’ll be posting a notice announcing a special meeting shortly. While the details still haven’t been finalized, he said the meeting will likely be early afternoon on Monday, Oct. 13. The Board of Aldermen will be meeting in executive session.



Contact this reporter at deannaw@lakesunleader.com