County’s winter mowing has a purpose, officials say

Bourbon County Comission Chairman Lynne Oharah said Tuesday he’s received a lot of questions about why the county is mowing ditches during the winter.

“We have neglected our right-of-ways for many years,” Public Works Director Jim Harris said. “We’re playing catchup.”

He said mowing the right-of-ways now makes sense because the crews can see what obstacles there are that might be covered with brush growth during the summer.

The crews can get rid of larger brush now, which will make maintaining the right-of-ways easier later.

Second District Commissioner Jeff Fischer said mowing the right-of-ways also improves the chance that drivers will see deer along the roadways.

Oharah said he already sees an improvement.

“Now we can see what needs to be ditched,” Harris said. “Now we can see problems we couldn’t see before.”

Earlier during the meeting, commissioners agreed they would consider purchasing a tanker trailer for asphalt. Harris said he has located a 1987, which has a heated tank.

Fischer asked Harris for a “wish list” of items he would like to purchase this year. “There’s a difference between what I wish and what I need,” Harris said. “It would be a very small list this year.”

Fischer also asked for a list of items the county has purchased with cash. Commissioners discussed the fact that while a lot of aged equipment has been replaced in the past few years, only bigger items were purchased by obtaining a loan.

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