We've been really blessed since my last post with some very good weather for what we do. There were a few days of stormy weather but overall we've been able to continue scabbing and patching and here it is, after Thanksgiving. We are all surprised but saddened by some incumbents being beaten at the polls however the new electees may do a very good job. The court is committed to working with the voters choices and doing the business of the county seamlessly with the new additions.
We've been busy with some soft spots in the road on CR1362 and 1363, which we then scabbed over after we dug out the places and back-filled with iron ore rock. The crew then scabbed some areas off of the Hart's Bluff road, CR1662, CR1664, CR1725, and CR1745. We then went over to CR1660 and CR 1435 to scab some areas we missed the first time through.
We started the side-boom mower around the precinct early in November. That machine can operate from the pavement and reach out to some "difficult to mow" areas and clean up some low hanging and broken limbs from the many trees that grace our roads. It was a beautiful site this fall to see the "tunnel of trees" changing color on many of our precinct's roads. This machine not only serves a critical service but also gives the trees this tunnel shape.
We did have to cut some dead or dying trees since my last post. Specifically, on CR1535, CR1048, CR1046, and lately CR1345, we cut and hauled off these trees to our mixing field to be burned during rainy weather.
Our biggest effort has been with culverts. We installed a new culvert for Mr. Barnum on CR1725, an extension on a culvert to accommodate Mr. Blair on CR1046, and a replacement for Mr. Young on CR 1048. We installed a culvert for the county across CR1362 to replace one that had rusted and collapsed. We also replaced a culvert for Mr. Martin on CR1345 and cleaned up some trees near his gate. Finally, Mrs Cathcart on CR1435 has had water run into her house in years past because her house pad sits below grade from the adjoining lot. We installed a concrete tile culvert and deepened the ditch by her house to prevent the run-off from the road adding to the problem during a torrential downpour.
We continue to press on with the counties duties concerning the loop project. Despite what was written in the paper quoting individuals involved with acquisitions, we stay active in overseeing the contractors in all phases of the process, including acquisitions, behind the scenes. But we have not, nor will we get involved with dollar amounts during the process of obtaining the property necessary for the project. We feel our presence would be counterproductive in that area to the county's tax-payers as a whole.

I know, I know, it's been almost two months since my last post so I'll make this quick. From the time of my last post until the 10th of September, we cut some dead trees on CR1200, CR 1342 for Mr. and Mrs. Hill and one on CR1635. We also did some maintenance on our equipment on one rainy day. We cleaned out a culvert on CR1200 that one of the utility companies had covered with dirt.
On September 13, we began extensive resurfacing on portions of CR1200. Starting on the TLI trucking portion, we resurfaced much of the road between there and the haul bridge. We also did several places up to CR1345, where our responsibility becomes that of Precinct 2, our partner on this shared road. We finished work on CR1200 on September 24.
On September 20, we started mowing the right-of-way for the second time this year. He completed his circuit of the precinct on October 15.
We also took time during this period to make 3900 tons of our own oil blended dirt for light paving. On September 27, we began addressing resurfacing needs in the "middle" portion of the precinct, beginning on CR1468 and then moving to CR1455. We also repaired a portion of CR 1465. We had a minor emergency on CR1360 when a culvert separated during a rain, allowing the pavement to fall through. We installed a new large culvert at what we refer to "the big ditch" and resurfaced.
On October 14, we moved to the development west of Lake Tankersley and resurfaced portions of CR1040, CR1042, CR1035, and a larger portion of CR1038. From there we moved to CR1660 and repaired the road on one of the curves and resufaced several parts of that road. We also installed culverts for Mr. Blake on CR1048 and for Mr. Miller on CR1535. Today, we picked up limbs blown down during the weekend's strong but much needed rain.
As a point of reference, my foreman said, due to the good weather and the reclamation money from the pipeline company, we have already done as much or more road resurfacing than in any year he can remember in his twenty + years with Titus County!
Hopefully, I will not be as negligent posting the next month as I was the last two!

It has a month and a half since my last blog. We have been taking full advantage of the extremely hot and dry weather since my last post. As I mentioned before, our big job of the summer was a complete resurface of CR1905. I must compliment my employees for a wonderful job on that stretch of road. I am so impressed that I am going to stripe that road like the state does. We also scabbed a portion of CR1430 down to the turn to CR1535. We didn't immediately finish CR1430 because the remainder called for a different process that was more cost effective for a lightly traveled section. Last week, we did finish that whole road however. We worked several weeks on a road best described as a disaster. The outlying section of CR1360 was in terrible shape simply because it had never been shown much attention due to its remoteness and the lack of frequent traffic. We applied the method discribed in the last post of pulling ditches, applying recycled asphalt, and oil to make an inexpensive paving material suitable for that road. Again, it went down well and, if it holds up well, we will do the rest of the road next year. We scabbed portions of CR1250 which is way out near Franklin Co.. During this work, we also took time for some tree cutting after a storm, a charitable repair of the pavement for the MPISD Transportation Dept. and picking up junk that people throw out on the county right-of-way. Just this week, we did some needed repairs on CR1680, CR1683, CR1690, and CR 1670.

We have finished our first round of mowing the precinct. I have sent home the part-time employee since I now have a full crew devoted to our roads. I was a good thing as the weather has been rainy for much of the time since my last post. We have put in several culverts in the precinct, all for the county instead of home access. We put in two west of Lake Tankersley on CR1042 two solve a drainage problem in that neighborhood. We also put in a new culvert across CR1125 to replace one that was in poor condition. We have reapplied recycled asphalt to the creek bottom road on CR1680 and we have repaired a portion of CR1540 by tearing up the existing pavement, relaying the pulverized material, and topping with a good cold-mix layer. We are looking forward to our biggest job for the summer; the rebuilding of the pavement on CR1905. It should take us about two weeks to complete the job and has been waiting on a good long term forecast. Wish us luck!

Well, its been over a month since I last posted and, I could say we've been busy, but that didn't stop me before from posting more often. So... no excuses!!! We continued to excavate ditches until the end of May. In all we cleaned ditches on CR's 1605, 1607, 1609, 1330, 1332, 1333, 1335, 1360, 1362, 1123, 1125, 1040, 1042, 1046, 1048, 1360, 1350, and 1362. In all, I'd say it was the most popular thing we've done among the people in the precinct since I started as Commissioner. Almost everyone was pleased to have the work done. We had to get started however on our mowing of the right-of-ways and I sent the leased excavator back. I plan to start again in December with a larger machine with a cab on the longer stretches of roads so we can work even in bad weather. We split the crew during this time so our patching and road repair could go on. We put in culverts for Mr. Yeago on CR1046, Mr. Johnson on CR 1540, Mr. Stansell on CR1333, Mr. Walton on CR1362, Mr. Irvin on CR 1130, Mrs. Hendricks on CR1046, Mr. Black on CR1362, two for Mr. Chism on CR1362, and one for the county across CR 1125. We started our road refinishing on CR 1330 with a long scab from the curve to the intersection at the Old Paris Road. We also are pulling ditches now with the motor grader on CR1220, CR 1465, and CR 1695. We also should be finished with the mowing by the end of the month. I want to acknowledge the cemetary committee at Bridges Chapel for the up-grade to their cemetary roads. Since we can't use long term methods to repair private roads even in cemetaries, They opted to BUY the asphalt based cold mix themselves, no small feat, and we assisted them in spreading the material. Now they have a very impressive pavement throughout their cemetary.

We have been busy enough with the cleaning of our road ditches that the utility marking companies are getting a little testy about our calls to Dig-Tess. We have worked so far CR1200, CR1135, CR1605, CR1612, CR1123, CR 1330. We previously had done CR1607, CR 1609, CR 1332, CR1333, and CR1335. We are focusing on the residential areas that have had culverts but that are partially or fully filled in. I have put another crew on doing some digging out of soft spots and then patching the rest of the precinct. Greenhill Cemetary wrote me a request for some help around their property before their decoration event on May the 1st and we completed those tasks. The bad storm of April 24th also caused us to work some over-time to cut up approximately 14 trees that had fallen across the road and haul them off.

Here in Precinct #1, we have made March and April our "Ditch Months"! We may also make May part of that as well. We have been using our small excavator to clean out some ditches that have been needing attention such as CR 1607, CR1609, CR 1332, CR 1333, and CR 1335. These are small residential areas that have culverts but were mostly filled in with silt. We also have been busy putting in culverts for several residents on CR 1345, CR1357, CR1455 and CR 1200. We think that a free flowing ditch and culverts are a necessity to maintain our roads in an efficient manner. When the existing ditches dry out this Spring( if they ever do!), our plans are to use the motor grader to pull long stretches of the least populated roads to acheive that goal. We also have been trying to patch the holes after each rain to keep up with our repairs. Hopefully we'll get some warmer weather soon so that we can do some larger road maintenance. One day was spent with a tree service cutting some large trees that had been damaged during the Winter.

We have been taking every opportunity to get our patching done. I can't say were are 100% but we are close. Some spots with bad drainage have been patched so much that we have overlaid the surface. The roads addressed are CRs 1695,1620, 1770, 1905, 1680, 1683, 1362, and 1360. We also have been riding the precinct during these rain storms to pick up limbs that have fallen in or beside the roads. We also have been adding material to the holes around the precinct mail-boxes so the mail carriers can more easily get up to them.

The weather continues to be a problem. As we patch and repair the damage to our roads from all the rain, another system passes through before our material hardens and is washed out . But we continue to do what we can to keep up. We now have all of your equipment under roof and out of the weather. The whole project, the all weather materials bunk with concrete walls, the double shed here at the barn, and the single shed at the mixing field, in all cost less than $9,000.00, thanks to our guys who did the construction. In my opinion, dollars well spent. We were able to do some badly needed ditch work on CR 1340 for Mr. Newman. We also installed a culvert for Mr. Robles on CR 1435. Almost all the existing crossroad culverts have been checked and many have been cleaned out or unclogged. We have a fairly large list of projects to complete, such as the drainage ditches in our residential areas, but we will continue to try to keep up with the patching until we get some extended clear weather.

We've started the new year with some basic chores. Patching of roads after all the rain and hard freezing temperatures was one of our priorities. The entire precinct was traveled and some areas required extensive repairs and some areas were just patched. We are assessing our road repair and resufacing needs for the year and hope that these efforts to keep up with our "chores" will allow us more time and money to do some extra resurfacing during the summer. At least we will not have the pipeline to worry about. Culverts! We have been repairing and replacing several in the precinct and they are badly needed in some locations. Also, we have begun erecting two simple sheds, one at the barn and one at our oil-dirt mixing field, so that ,when we get through, we will have every piece of your, the precinct tax-payers, equipment under a roof!