By Traci Chapman/Staff writer

Failures on a $1.5 million road overlay led to a war of words Tuesday between County Commissioners Don Young, Grant Hedrick and Phil Carson.

Young, District 2 commissioner, said Hedrick and Carson were “stabbing me in the back – this is a character assassination. Here they criticize my roads – why isn’t anyone going out to look at their roads? My roads are a lot better than any other in the county.”

The controversy began two weeks ago, when questions arose about a 15-mile asphalt overlay project stretching from the south side of the El Reno Regional Airport, running south to Union City and west from the airpark to Heaston. At that time, records obtained by the Mustang News showed Young spent more than $1.7 million since April 1 on maintenance and operations, more than twice the sum he expended the entire nine months prior to that time.

Young said the bulk of those monies were for the road repair. Records showed $1.5 million was paid to Schwartz Asphalt since April 30, the company completing the asphalt overlay. Young’s road crews completed the preparation work, he said.

Some officials questioned the timing of the “last-minute” project, completed in the last months that “unlimited funds” were available to the District 2 commissioner. Because Young was not seeking another term, under state law he could not make any major purchases or dispose of any equipment after June 4, and he is limited in the amount of money he can spend as of July 1. Oklahoma law dictates that outgoing commissioners can only spend 50 percent of the funds remaining in their coffers six months prior to the end of their term.

Gayle Ward, director of the Association of County Commissioners of Oklahoma, said the law was designed to prevent outgoing commissioners from wiping out their accounts in the last months of their term.

“The balance must remain for the use of the next commissioner,” she said. “This ensures an incoming commissioner does not have an immediate shortfall of funds with which to operate.”

The last-minute nature of the project caused Young headaches because Schwartz suffered a breakdown of equipment that caused delays in finishing the project before July 1, Young said.

“They got a new plant, and they’ve had a lot of problems,” he said. “They promised to have everything done, and I know they have been working on it. My crews have been working on the soft spots all spring.”

Critics charged that not only was the project a “rush job,” but the preparation required to make the road longlasting was not completed correctly. Young said he uses a system of patching holes with rocks before the asphalt overlay is set; Hedrick and Carson – as well as others experienced in road construction – said that is not enough.

Carson said the proper method for laying asphalt is to dig up the existing base, stabilize it and pack it down, and then lay the new asphalt on the prepared surface.

“Let’s say you put 1 mile of 2 1/2 to 3 inches of asphalt coat on the road, but you don’t prepare the base and pack it down,” he said. “Any existing problems you had, anything in the road – you’re just covering those problems up, not addressing them. It’s only a matter of time, and usually not much time, before those problems come back up to the surface.”

If Young had a headache because of project delays, it was compounded last week when a nearly 60-foot section of the road failed, just one week after the asphalt was laid. Young said the failure – “30 feet in a 15-mile stretch” – was not “a big deal.” After reviewing the damaged portion, he said the “isolated” failure was the result of a truck driving on the shoulder too soon after the road was finished.

Hedrick said the buckling is a symptom of problems with the base, and grass found under the broken roadway and growing through part of the failed section is part of the problem.

“That grass is deteriorating – you can’t leave anything that is going to deteriorate under the road,” he said. “It creates an air gap that will cause holes and then cause failure. The only way to make sure that doesn’t happen is to blade the grass back, away from the area you are laying the asphalt.”

El Reno Mayor Matt White, who has experience with road repair and who said he examined the failed section, agreed.

“He (Young) didn’t kill the grass. He just threw down gypsum or whatever patching material he had, and didn’t stabilize and pack the base,” White said. “This is the problem when you’re trying to do something quick and fast. If you took enough time and used the proper materials, like fly ash or kiln dust, you would have a road that would be worth the time and money you spent on it. As it is, you have a $1.5 million road that will cost the county – and who knows how much – money to do it right.”

Young – who said last week he disagreed with engineers and his fellow commissioners about how a base should be prepared – said he fills in holes with road and dirt, which is stable enough “because Mother Nature patches it better than I can.” He said the patch would be fixed “shortly,” and the fact “someone brought attention to it right away like this is really interesting – like someone is just looking for something to slander me with.

“This is a political maneuver designed to help one candidate and hurt another,” he said. “Those other two (Hedrick and Carson) have been playing this game and assassinating my character, and people need to know about it. People need to start driving their roads and see how bad they are.”

A review of “complaint calls” made to commissioners by residents in the last six months tell the story, Hedrick said.

Sheila Preno, accounts payable clerk, tabulated the calls, which she said are kept in a log book. Carson had 58 calls, Hedrick had 38 complaints and Young received 66. Of those received by Carson, Preno said “the majority” was from Piedmont residents, while the majority of Young’s complaints were from the unincorporated area.

“A lot of those people don’t understand that those roads are the responsibility of their city – they aren’t something Mr. Carson can handle. Mr. Young had a few calls from people in Mustang, but most of those were from areas he is responsible for maintaining,” she said.

Hedrick said while he has commented on the proper way to prepare a base, he has nothing to gain by pointing out problems on Young’s roads.

“He’s leaving office. I’ve kept quiet while he’s talked about me and talked about what kind of job I’ve done, but enough’s enough,” he said. “My roads speak for themselves, and my constituents speak for themselves.”

Carson said while he does not understand why Young did not complete the project “all along,” he did not try to criticize Young.

“He’s operating as he sees fit, as do I and as does Grant (Hedrick),” he said. “If the residents don’t like it, they can vote us out or even impeach us. While I do things differently, that’s not my district. I commented on what I believe to be the proper procedure – to lay a proper base that will last and not cause this kind of failure so soon after the road was finished.

“I – and all of my guys, as well as the District 3 crew – all went to training on this, and we continue that training, while Don has said he doesn’t see the need for it,” Carson said. “We believe that training keeps us up to date so we can provide the best roads for the traffic we are seeing, whether it’s cars or big oil trucks or farm equipment.”

Young said that training – provided to counties throughout the state by the Local Technical Assistance Program – is “irrelevant” for county commissioners.

“They are teaching things that are for state highways, not county roads,” he said. “Their methods aren’t cost-effective. I choose to spend the residents’ money wisely.”

Cost estimates to repair the failed sections were not available at press time. White said the problem is that what is damaged today will be worse tomorrow.

“You’ve got these sections failing already, and those cracks will get worse,” he said. “You can’t stress it enough – if the base is bad, the road will not last. It was a waste of a lot of the taxpayers’ money.”