Supervisor Kirk Hopeful That Fix For Tuolumne Road Is Nearing
Tuolumne, CA — What is widely seen as a botched effort last year to improve Tuolumne Road has led to legal disputes on how to rectify the matter. It will be the focus of a special closed-session meeting called by the Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors on Friday.
A chip seal project completed last October left the road in, by most accounts, worse shape than it started, and there have been upset residents in the community because of flying debris and damaged windshields.
Tuolumne County hired an outside company to do the work, American Pavement Systems of Modesto, and there are various other subcontractors involved. Having numerous parties has resulted in a more lengthy review process than officials had hoped.
The county and the contractor have been going back and forth about who was to blame, whether it be poor construction work, or the original planning. The county has argued that it was the execution of the work.
District Three Supervisor Anaiah Kirk, who represents the Tuolumne Road area, and who also experienced a damaged windshield, has been very vocal in his displeasure about the work. He says, “Everyone knows this has been a long process, but we are up against a very tight timeline now (to get the road fixed this season).
Kirk continues, “Tomorrow’s conversation, we are hopeful that we will have an agreed upon fix (from the contractor) for Tuolumne Road and that fix needs to be completed by the end of September.”
Details of what may be presented are not publicly available as it is a closed-session legal matter.
Kirk concludes, “At the end of the day, what I’m hopeful for, is that the offer will be agreed upon by our board. There are some little nuances that we need to go through. But, we are hopeful that we are getting to the end of negotiations to get the road fixed.”
The special closed meeting will begin at 8 am on Friday in the board of supervisors meeting room.
