Greene County authorities have put plans in motion to get a pipeline company to live up to their promises on road repair. The Greene County Board convened a special meeting on Monday to talk about a road the lies in Roodhouse Township that the county engineer has deemed unsafe. David Marth told the Greene County Board last week that County Road 1000 East was unsafe to travel on and that Spire, the pipeline company, had done nothing to fix the problem. Spire and the county had a road usage agreement prior to the installation of the pipeline. Marth says that Spire originally had a contractor, Michel’s, working on the road but told them to stop. Marth estimated that repairs to the road that is now full of heavy, loose gravel and has been deemed nearly impassable for the 7 families that live on the road would cost nearly a quarter of a million dollars to fix.
The board, along with Greene County States Attorney Caleb Briscoe and the county’s independent council of Brown, Hay, and Stevens out of Springfield went into close session, according to reports by the Greene Prairie Press, to work out a plan of action. After the closed session, board members passed two measures – the first requires all correspondence between the highway engineer, attorneys, and Spire to be sent to States Attorney Briscoe and the second requires Roodhouse Township Road Commissioner Mark Hallock to write a letter declaring the road to be a hazard. Once the letter is completed and handed through the attorneys, Spire will have 10 days to comply. At which point, according to the road usage agreement, the county may fix the road and bill the company for repairs. Morgan County has had similar issues with Dakota Access Pipeline in the rural portions of the county tied up in litigation for two years.