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Resident urges clearer code enforcement and faster road repairs after citation for driveway dirt
Summary
At the Oct. 1 Cusseta–Chattahoochee County commission meeting, a resident's representative questioned a Sept. 13 warning for dirt on a driveway and raised concerns about delayed county repairs and inconsistent citation enforcement; county officials said warnings are a formal notice and teams repair roads as resources allow.
At the Oct. 1 regular meeting of the Commission of the Unified Government of Cusseta–Chattahoochee County, Joshua Abercrombie spoke on behalf of resident Teresa Parrish to challenge a code enforcement warning issued Sept. 13 for “dirt coming out into the road.” Abercrombie said heavy rain that day worsened conditions and asked why some driveways were cited while others were not. “If the person slid from that they are either speeding or they have bald tires,” Abercrombie said, describing what prompted the citation and questioning selective enforcement.
County Manager Thomas Weaver told commissioners that warnings are part of the county’s formal system to notify residents when storm runoff reveals hazardous conditions. Weaver said the county prioritizes repairs based on available resources and often returns to finish full repairs after initial emergency work. “The county does what they can with what resources they have, and they put out what fires they can a little at a time,” Weaver said.
Abercrombie said he filed a work order for Patterson Road on Sept. 20 requesting ditch and pipe clearing; he told the commission the road was made passable but that full repairs were not completed until days later. Weaver and officers confirmed that multiple driveways — ten on the day in question, including some on Highway 137 — received warnings and that citations could be issued on the spot but are not always used as a first step.
Chairman Charles Coffey characterized warnings as discretionary: “A warning is a courtesy and we do not have to give them. We can write someone a citation on the spot,” he said, while also urging patience with limited equipment and staffing.
The exchange left open questions commissioners flagged about response timelines and prioritization. Commissioners noted the county’s motor grader had been in for repairs earlier in the month, limiting the speed of roadwork. No formal vote or policy change occurred; commissioners directed that road conditions and the warning/citation process be handled through existing staff processes and return to a future work session if further action is needed.
