BROWNSTOWN
Persistence paid off for a Brownstown resident.
Chester Carroll had attended Brownstown Town Council meetings in recent months in hopes of getting a drainage issue corrected near his home at the corner of Poplar and Cummings streets.
After heavy rains, water would pool in the street and reach the area where Carroll’s truck is parked. He said the water would stand halfway up the rims on the tires.
The only hangup was the sewer is at the town limits with county property, so who was going to fix the issue and who was going to pay for it?
Carroll spoke with Jackson County Highway Superintendent Jerry Ault, who said it’s not normally in the county’s jurisdiction, but the culvert is undersized and improperly aligned for proper drainage functions.
Ault agreed to have the county fix the sewer if the town would pay for the pipe, which would cost $4,907.78.
The council unanimously approved the project.
“They’ve got the equipment to do it. We don’t,” Clerk-Treasurer David Willey said of the county. “If we get in there with a backhoe and try to dig up the ditch or whatever, we’re ruining anybody’s property that we sit on because everything’s going to sink and we’ll create all kinds of holes.”
Councilman Mark Reynolds said the town doesn’t have the asphalt needed for the project, but the county does.
In a letter addressed to the town council, Ault said he recommends the N-12 double wall plastic pipe because it not only has a higher crush rating, it also has a 100-plus-year lifespan. The project would require 60 feet of 18-inch inner diameter plastic pipe, 45 tons of crushed stone to cover the pipe and 25 tons of surface hot mix asphalt.
“This would give this whole area proper drainage with a larger pipe with more of a skew to allow for better flow of runoff water,” Ault wrote. “We would also clean out the ditch down to the creek on the outlet end to help with proper flow.”
At a council meeting earlier this month, members also discussed storm sewer issues in the right of way between Stillwell and Ewing streets.
“It goes through the backyards of a lot of people,” Willey said. “Since that time, there has been an area up on the top end where the ground has just settled and water just sits there.”
He said most of it lands in the backyard of Terry and Debbie Roll.
Willey said Dale Shelton, the town’s street superintendent, recommends running an additional line to tap into the original line that was put in and add another grate at the end of the line to drain the area.
“We’ll probably have to hand dig it because it’s low and it’s pretty much always wet,” Willey said. “It’s just got to where the ground was sunk so low that it doesn’t drain over to where the first drain is or manhole that taps into the system.”
Willey said the line goes from Orchard Lane to Branch Street and runs parallel to Ewing Street and eventually empties into the East Fork White River.
“It’s basically just running about 30 feet of pipe and then forming another manhole on the back part of their yard,” he said of the Rolls.
Council President Sally Lawson said once a quote is received and the cost is determined, the council can consider it for approval.
