The Owen County Board of Commissioners on Thursday authorized a trial vegetation- and limb-clearing effort on Hancock School Road by Joe White of Stillwaters Roofing and Construction, subject to a certificate of insurance and inspection when work is complete.

Joe White described the scope in his own words: he planned to clear limbs to a 13-foot clearance over the roadway, remove downed trees up to 10 feet from the road center and clear vegetation within the county right-of-way. "If I went down the road and cut everything back to where there was nothing within 2 feet of the road edge ... set a standard height of 13 feet for overhanging limbs over the road," Joe White told commissioners. He said he would do the work at "break even" and supplied a cost estimate of $1,600 for the trial section.

The motion approved by commissioners authorized Stillwaters Roofing and Construction to clear Hancock School Road from the corner of Hayden Road to State Road 231, both sides, to the scope read into the record; trees with utility lines would not be cut, and debris must be cleared and removed. The board required Joe White to provide a certificate of insurance to the auditor's office before work begins and said staff would inspect the finished work.

Why it matters: highway staff told the board that county crews are down to 13 employees and cannot quickly address all brush and tree work; commissioners framed the trial as a way to partner with community members to address localized maintenance needs while preserving limited highway resources.

Ending: Commissioners said they would visit the completed site as a group before approving any replication of the program on additional roads.