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By Mike Gervais
Register Staff
10-11-2008 Discussions about county road improvements got heated Tuesday when Fifth District Supervisor Richard Cervantes voted against three current projects, citing how none of the impending work will be taking place in his district, which spans from Lone Pine to Death Valley and all points south.
The other four supervisors voted to proceed with three scheduled improvement projects – which will be financed through Prop 1B and county road funds – in Bishop and Independence.
Cervantes voted against allocating the county and Prop 1B funds to the projects on Red Hill Road and Ed Powers Road in Bishop and Schabbell Lane in Independence because, “we have roads that are beyond repair in the Fifth District, namely Sage Flat Road. All you have to do is drive up to Bishop and look at the roads, then the further you head south, the worse the roads get.”
Fourth District Supervisor Jim Bilyeu voted against Cervantes, but sided with fellow Southern Inyo County supervisor in the discussion, noting that there are some roads in the southern portion of the county that haven’t been worked on in more than 50 years.
“The Lone Pine, Independence and Big Pine town projects should be a priority because those roads are rotting away,” Bilyeu said.
First District Supervisor Linda Arcularius told the board that planning for the road projects has been an ongoing process that the board has been aware of, and that it was too late to contest the projects.
“We’re in millions of dollars now,” Arcularius said, “we can’t go back now.”
In an attempt to shed some light on the road rehab discussion, Inyo County Road Supervisor Bob Brown shared some quick figures about road work within the county.
According to Brown, Inyo County has spent more money on road repairs in the Fifth District than any other. He added that next on the list would be the Fourth and First districts, which have had “very close” to the same amount of cash going into their roads. He said the Second District is fourth on the list – as most of those roads are maintained by the City of Bishop – and the Third District is last.
But Cervantes was undaunted, saying that more money has been spent on roads in the Fifth District only because there are more roads in the southern part of the county than in the north, and there are more roads in worse shape in his district.
According to Third District Supervisor Beverly Brown, whose district has seen the least amount of money spent on road work, “this is one county. We have to take care of the entire county. They are all our citizens.” She said while no areas should be overlooked, there is only enough money to handle what is on the table, and it would be a poor decision to stop work on these proposed projects after so much time and money was spent in the planning stages.
With the exception of Cervantes, the board approved Public Works’ request for $84,000 of Prop 1B funds for the Red Hill and Ed Powers roads projects and $119,000 for the Schabbell Lane project.
The county has $1,710,407 budgeted for work on Ed Powers and Red Hill roads and $801,111 for Schabbell Lane.
If the 1B funds are approved at the state level, the county is expecting to receive money for the road projects by November.
The board is scheduled to consider 1B funding for a South Bishop road resurfacing project and the Independence Town Rehabilitation Project, which could be finished as early as next year.
The Lone Pine Town Rehabilitation Project was originally on the bill for Prop 1B funding, but, Public Works Director Doug Wilson said, that project got shot down at the state level for an unknown reason. |
