News Editor

Restricting the weight on a county road could cause some problems for a local construction company.

During the Jan. 21 meeting of the Pike County Commission, commissioners voted to restrict the weight limit on Carter Road to a gross limit of five tons.

The road is in Commissioner Ray Goodson’s district and the request was made by residents who live on the road to change the weight limit on the road. "The ruts are so bad on the road a regular car or truck cannot drive down it," he said during the regular meeting held last night.

John Harper of Wiregrass Construction Company told Goodson and the other commissioners that his company uses the road to access a sand pit on property owned by Rayvon Graham, for use in their asphalt mixture.

"A weight restriction on Carter road would deny us access to get the gravel and sand mixtures we need, and cause us an extreme expense," said Harper during the work session preceding the regular commission meeting. "The sand there meets the qualifications for our asphalt sand mix. This could also be a great cost on the work to be done at the Wal-Mart (distribution center) site," he added.

Harper asked if the commission would consider allowing the county engineer Herb Huner and Commissioner Goodson to work with the company on fixing the road and keeping it in good condition.

Huner and Goodson both agreed to meet with Harper this week on the matter.

During the regular meeting, when the subject was brought up for discussion, Commissioner Charlie Harris said that during the last meeting on Jan. 21, the commission failed to follow the policy of suspending the rules of order to vote on the resolution which put the restriction on the road, because it was not properly added to the agenda before the meeting and had not been on the agenda during prior meetings.

A discussion between Harris, the county attorney, Allen Jones and the other commissioners ensued.

"If you all consented to consider the matter then that point is moot," said Jones. "But if you want to fall back to the long-standing rule you have of suspending the rules, you can."

The commissioners voted to suspend the rules after some discussion in order to consider the resolution. It was adopted in a 4-1-1 vote, with Harris voting against it and Commissioner Willie Thomas abstaining because he had not been present at the previous meeting on Jan. 21.

After the vote, Commissioner Goodson confirmed he would meet with Harper and Huner during the week to get something worked out concerning the road.