PWF Road Project Pending Study

By Gordon HopkinsJefferson County Commissioners are anxious to begin work on the long-delayed PWF (Pawnee City, Wymore, Fairbury) Road Project. That project cannot begin, however, until an environmental study is completed. Reducing Speed on the RoadThe seven-mile section of PWF Road encompassed by the project is made of 30-year-old asphalt that varies in depth between five to 10 inches, much of which is patched with cement. It is full of potholes and lacks guard rails. Commissioners have been trying for years to obtain the funding needed to repair the road.While the county will continue to patch potholes and other damage, the condition of the road is such that the county will reduce the speed limit from 55 to 40 miles per hour. That speed reduction will remain in place until work on the road is completed. Environmental StudyThe necessity of an environmental study has been a frustration for the commissioners. Commissioner Mark Schoenrock pointed out, “It’s a 14-mile road and we had the first seven miles completed seven years ago, and we did an environmental study for the whole length of the road at that time.”Nevertheless, NDOT insisted on a new study, which is being conducted by Olssen and Associates. Invoice from NDOTLast week, the county received an invoice from the Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT) for $88,000 for the environmental study. At first, commissioners thought this meant the environmental study was done. They were therefore surprised and disappointed to learn the study was only half-completed, despite having received a bill for the full amount.Commissioners spoke to Denise Rice, NDOT Project Finance Manager, by phone during a meeting on Tuesday, December 10. Rice told commissioners, “Per the agreement, we can invoice costs that are for the entire amount of the agreement. If you don’t expend all the agreement, we would return it. At this point. $44,932.70 has been credited.”Schoenrock said, “Typically you don’t invoice people for things until the work is done.”Rice responded, “The way that works is, we consider the whole agreement a liability, and that’s what we report to the state.”Schoenrock said, “That doesn’t make any sense. I mean, they haven’t done the work yet. You know, we’re trying to be responsible managers of our taxpayer funds, right? We are elected officials trying to accomplish that objective, and for us to pay $44,000 for work that has not been completed yet. I mean, that flies in the face of what we’re trying to accomplish as elected officials. I mean, we’re more than willing to pay for the work that’s been done, sure, but for us to pay the full amount, for work that hasn’t been accomplished yet, that does not seem reasonable.” Interest on Unspent FundsCommissioner Gale Pohlmann asked, “If we pay you the full amount, what are you going to do with that excess $44,000 is that going to Olsson right away, or is the state going to sit on that?”Rice said, “It will go into state coffer to be paid as your bills come in.”Pohlmann said, “In the meantime, you’re drawing interest on that, and we’re paying interest on that.”Rice then suggested, “How do you feel about paying, like, $50,000 or $55,000, so then once it goes over that, we’ll bill you again?”Commissioners agreed to this compromise.

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