Commissioners continue work on culvert policy revisions

Bourbon County Commissioners appear to be closer to approving changes in policy that will allow private contractors to install whistles and culverts on county property.

On Thursday, Holly Powers, engineer associate with Schafer, Kline and Warren, met with commissioners to finalize revisions to the county's current right-of-ways policy. She will provide County Counselor Justin Meeks with the final revision Tuesday to review before commissioners adopt the new policy during a future commission meeting.

Commission Chair Barbara Albright said revising the policy is something she wants to have completed before Jeff Fischer replaces her in January as the newly elected second district commissioner.

"We kept trying to work on it and never got it to the final point, was the opportunity of some of the local contractors to install whistles on local properties," Albright said.

Under the county's current policy, the property owner is responsible for purchasing the materials. The county is responsible for the installation and replacement when necessary.

Local contractors have spoken to commissioners about allowing them to perform the work, but at the time, the commissioners said allowing private contractors or landowners to install culverts on county right-of-ways is a liability issue. If there was a vehicle accident due to a poorly installed culvert, the responsibility would fall on the county no matter who did the installation because the culvert is located on county property, commissioners have said.

Powers said other counties allow private contractors to install culverts, but the contractors have to be bonded and insured.

She said she does not recommend allowing property owners to do the installation.

"These are you guys' standards, so I write them basically how you want them, but we advise you," Powers said. "This is one of the things we have been advising counties. We advice not to allow landowners to install them because they're on county right-of-way, county property, so they're (landowners) are not insured properly."

She said there has been an instance when a county was sued because a property owner who did work in the county's right-of-way was not insured properly.

"If the culvert's in their driveway on their private property, let 'em have at it," Powers said.

She said the main thing is the contractor is bonded and insured.

"You guys know who the good ones are and the bad ones," Powers said.

She said the county could implement a license procedure for the contractors. The license could be issued annually by the county.

She said smaller contractors may not have the bonding. Another option is the county could eliminate the bonding requirement and instead require a certified check for the cost of the project.

With the changes, Public Works Director Jim Harris said the county does more replacement culverts than new installations.