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Landowner disputes whether Golden Springs Road is a county road; county attorney urges survey
Summary
During public comment, landowner Gordon Bentley said documents show Golden Springs Road should be a county-maintained road; the county attorney and commissioners said records are unclear and recommended a professional survey and further review by the responsible agencies rather than immediate action.
Gordon Bentley, a local landowner, told the Monroe County Board of Commissioners that he has repeatedly sought clarification about whether Golden Springs Road (project TBA 7106) is a county road and said he supplied a letter purportedly signed by Ernest West indicating the road was completed to county standards.
Bentley said he has been trying to resolve the matter since buying the property and provided the commission with prior legal reviews, including an earlier investigation by former county attorney Sharon Lee. “I just like it clarified so I don't ever have to do this again,” Bentley said, asking the board to recognize the road as county-maintained so he can complete a final survey of his property lines.
The county attorney responded that records are ambiguous and that a former review while persuasive does not itself make the road part of the county system. The attorney said he inspected the route and spoke with the current road superintendent, who described the maintained section as ending where gravel ends and then becoming a trail. “The county commission makes the county road,” the county attorney said, and noted the difference between a public road and a county road is whether the county has formally accepted and documented it for maintenance.
Commissioners and staff discussed that a portion of the roadway has been maintained but that formal acceptance and mileage calculations in county records do not clearly include the disputed section. Commissioners recommended Bentley complete a professional survey and said the county will await documentary findings and the engineering review from the agency Bentley contacted (identified in the transcript as TBA/TVA) before taking action. No formal vote was taken to change maintenance status during the meeting.
Next steps: Commissioners advised Bentley to obtain a survey and said staff would review any material findings; Bentley said he had asked TBA to perform an investigation and expected a written determination.
The public exchange clarified historical record-keeping and left the legal maintenance status unresolved pending survey and agency documentation.
