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Pine Grove Road resident asks Monroe County for ditching, drainage and engineering help, cites state road statutes
Summary
A resident of Pine Grove Road during public comment told Monroe County commissioners the road floods his property and urged ditching, a tile drain and an engineering inspection, citing Tennessee statutes on road crown and ditching. Commissioners and the road commissioner discussed whether the roadway is a county-maintained road and next steps.
A resident who identified himself as a Pine Grove Road property owner urged Monroe County commissioners during public comment to address recurring drainage problems that he said are washing out the road and flooding his property.
The resident, identified in the meeting record as a member of the public who moved to Monroe County in 2005, said the county is responsible for maintaining seven-tenths of a mile of the road and that recent maintenance has allowed water to flow down the middle of the roadway. He cited Tennessee road-maintenance code numbers and asked the commission to require ditching, the installation of tile drains at the bottom of a hill and, if necessary, to employ engineers to survey and classify the road. He said, "My request is that if we can somehow direct them to handle this, the ditching for the draining all the way down...he needs to bring in jackhammers. There's rock there. A grader isn't gonna do it." (Comment attributed to the public speaker.)
The resident told commissioners he had asked that a condition be met before he bought his property years ago and that he has documented instances where the county's current practice of spreading material has not provided the engineered crown and ditches he said Tennessee code requires.
A county official responded in the meeting that the county only maintains county roads that have been accepted by the commission; the official said, "The only roads that the county maintains are county roads, which have been accepted by the county commission." The road commissioner then addressed the assembly and said, "It is a county road," indicating the roadway in question is within the county-maintenance system. The transcript shows some back-and-forth about exact mileage and where the county's maintenance historically reached.
The public speaker suggested the commission appoint a small group or use the authority in state law to employ engineers or expert services to survey and recommend improvements; he named Commissioners Danny Everhart and Craig Miller as potential appointees. A commissioner (speaker in the record who asked to review model rules from other counties) asked colleagues to review draft rules and consider a workshop to form a committee to address road-maintenance rules.
Ending: Commissioners acknowledged the complaint and discussed potential administrative steps, including inspection and a workshop to consider road-maintenance procedures. The transcript does not record a formal decision or a vote to authorize engineering work at this meeting.
