Ehmler Acres resident Larry Lehmkuhl addressed the E.S.R.D. Board on May 11 on behalf of himself and his neighbors and asked that Ehmler Lane finally be paved. That request, however, met with no small amount of resistance.
May 11 marked another chapter in the debate over whether or not to chip seal Ehmler Lane, a stretch of road running through the center of Ehmler Acres.
Residents of Ehmler Acres, a neighborhood located off of Hwy. W to the southwest of Elsberry, were represented at the May 11 meeting of the Elsberry Special Road District [E.S.R.D.] by Larry Lehmkuhl.
Lehmkuhl came to the meeting armed with written requests from every resident of Ehmler Acres urging the E.S.R.D. commissioners to finally approve the paving of Ehmler Lane.
Lehmkuhl stated that with oil prices being down the timing couldn’t be better with regard to meeting this request.
“It seems like this would probably be the best time for this to happen,” said Lehmkuhl.
Lehmkuhl added that to put one inch to one and a half inches of gravel on a road one mile long takes 968 tons of rock.
With gravel currently going for $4.50 per ton, the total cost for one application of rock on that same one-mile stretch is $4,356.
To gravel that same stretch twice per year would cost $8,712.
After presenting these figures, Lehmkuhl stated that a road such as Ehmler Lane that isn’t heavily traveled and gets only residential use would hold up with a chip seal surface for between six and eight years before requiring major work again.
He contrasted this with statistics in his possession indicating that the cost to gravel a road for seven years at $4.50 per ton would add up to $60,984.
Lehmkuhl argued that these numbers, combined with the fact that sales tax revenue has increased and new building starts throughout the county are up, make the application of a chip seal surface more affordable now than it has been in some time.
E.S.R.D. Presiding Commissioner Larry Wheeler replied that while he had no personal issues with the idea of paving Ehmler Lane, he wasn’t sure it was the responsible thing to do at this time from a financial standpoint.
Wheeler said the E.S.R.D. has an obligation to first give attention to those roads that are already chip sealed but received no upkeep last year.
He also pointed out that the district has a number of bridges and box culverts that need repair.
These arguments did not discourage Lehmkuhl, however.
“We would like to be moved up to the top of the list since we’ve been trying to get this done for eight years,” said Lehmkuhl.
Commissioner Jackie Briscoe asked Lehmkuhl whether he and the other residents of Ehmler Acres were prepared to chip in some of the costs that would be involved.
Lehmkuhl responded by saying that this was absolutely not an option.
Commissioner Joel Conderman then stated that paving Ehmler Lane would, in his opinion, be like opening Pandora’s Box.
He explained that several months ago when the notion of paving Ehmler Lane was reported in the newspaper, his phone had exploded with calls from angry residents who have been asking for their roads to be paved as well.
Conderman added that the uproar he had been forced to deal with went well beyond the controversy that erupted last year when the board decided to repave portions of Hatfield Road and Old Hwy. 79.
He further stated that the rule currently on the books states that the district is responsible for the maintenance and repair of the roads within its purview in their current form only and that decisions made with regard to paving roads need to be made in line with this policy.
Wheeler agreed and attempted to explain the necessity of such a policy to Lehmkuhl.
That’s where communication broke down, however.
“There is sure a lot of preferential treatment given to certain people living within the Elsberry Special Road District,” said Lehmkuhl. “If you’ve got the right last name you can get all kinds of things done.”
Wheeler denied that this was the manner in which decisions were made and the board subsequently took no action with regard to Lehmkuhl’s request.
In a follow-up interview, Lehmkuhl described the board as reactive rather than proactive and said the decision as to which roads to focus on this year should have been made in March rather than late May or early June.
“They don’t look forward,” said Lehmkuhl. “This is a good time to move forward, be progressive and do something positive for the road district. They could be taking advantage of the relatively low oil prices right now.”
Lehmkuhl said the board’s goal should be to get all of the roads paved and he has no sympathy for their limited funds after the amount of money that he feels was wasted last year on Old Hwy. 79 and Hatfield Road.
Lehmkuhl said that despite the fact that the board has kept him and the other residents of Ehmler Acres running in circles for the last eight years he plans to keep pursuing the issue for as long as it takes.
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