Commissioners reject move to begin county takeover of Kelly Road after viewer finds mixed property-owner support

The Sweetwater County Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously May 6 to decline a resolution that would have started the process to establish Kelly Road — a roughly one-mile, dead-end dirt road north of Rock Springs — as a county-maintained road.

Independent viewer Robert Gerard presented a detailed study of Kelly Road, reporting significant deficiencies in road drainage and culverts and uncertainty about legal access for some property owners. Gerard said multiple property owners told him they preferred the road remain private. "My opinion is to not have Kelly Road be a public road and that it should be maintained a private road," Gerard said.

Public-works Director Jean Legurski explained the county’s options: move forward with the notice-of-intent process (which triggers public notice, objections and a future hearing) or vote now to stop the proposal. Commissioners discussed the thoroughness of the viewer report and the fact that many adjacent property owners oppose the change. Commissioner Richards said the report was "pretty thorough, pretty clear" and that making the road a county responsibility did not make financial sense; other commissioners concurred.

The board voted 5–0 against Resolution 25-05-EN01, the notice-of-intent to establish Kelly Road as a county road; the negative vote ended the county’s immediate consideration and would require an outside party or property owner to initiate the process again if they wished to pursue it.

Ending: The viewer’s report remains part of county records; no purchase of right-of-way, eminent-domain action, or county-funded construction was approved.