BY TOMMY JACKSON     07/18/2001

Editor

The White County Quorum Court devoted much of its 75-minute meeting Tuesday to the question of how roads are accepted into the County Road System.

Then when it came time to vote on an ordinance that would accept three roads located in the Little Red River Estates Addition into the system, County Judge Bob Parish detected a possible error in the wording of the ordinance which read "roads in the Little Red River Estates Addition have a right-of-way of at least 50 feet."

Depending on whether the roads were dedicated to the public before the passage of White County Ordinance 99-9 in 1999 that stipulates the rights-of-way must be 60 feet, the ordinance was tabled for additional study.

Earlier, Sonny Ekdahl of Citizen's Title in Searcy gave an informative report to the court stating in no uncertain terms the procedure how roads can legally come into the system.

Ekdahl said that regarding the Dick Finch Road which sparked a heated outburst from JP Hershel Barnett last month, there were a number of problems.

One, Ekdahl said, part of the road was in a subdivision.

"He didn't dedicate roads in this plat to the public. Everybody has to join together and dedicate the road to the public."

He also stated that "this one has a 50-foot right-of-way and after 1999, you required a 60-foot right-of-way."

Ekdahl also told the JPs, "For this body to accept a county road from me, it's not up to this body to tell me what to do (regarding the mandated legal procedure), it's my job; it's your job to accept the road or not and then maintain it."

Later in regard to a question, he stated again that Dick Finch Road is a "private road and you can't do it (take it into the system) until it's dedicated to the public."

And in response to a hypothetical situation from JP Mike Cleveland, Ekdahl said that whoever owns the first piece of land on a private road could put a fence on it and people couldnot legally go on the road.

Under the ordinance, the county requires the following:

¥ The 60-feet right-of-way.

¥ Road bed surfaces of at least 24 feet in width.

¥ At least six inches of SB-2 gravel upon its roadbed.

¥ All drainage ditches on either side are contoured to facilitate the flow of surface water and be at least 18 inches deep as measured from the center of the road.

¥ Have a minimum of 20 feet of double seal or its equivalent and at least two feet of shoulder on each side of the road.

¥ All utility service lines laid in accordance with ordinance.

Also at the meeting, the JPs passed two appropriation ordinances.

One amends the annual operating budget for the year, and the other transfers funds from the Support Collection Cost Fund to the General Fund.

At the conclusion of the meeting, it was announced that Judge Parish and Searcy Mayor David Evans along with lawyers representing both sides had met and reached "tentative agreement" on certain issues regarding Searcy's share of increased operating costs at the detention center.

County attorney Bob Russell described the negotiations as "legal wrangling", but he wouldn't discuss specifics. He would not elaborate, but indicated he was optimistic of a settlement being reached between the two parties. Parish agreed that he had had a "very good meeting with David." Osborn also commented that he too had talked with Mayor Evans, and he thought a settlement would be agreed on and brought before both the Searcy City Council and the quorum court.

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