Ironton residents who have asked the city to pave their gravel road could see progress as early as next month.

Monday, October 16, 2000

Ironton residents who have asked the city to pave their gravel road could see progress as early as next month.

During city council’s regular meeting Thursday, Councilman Hugh Donald Scott asked city officials about when a "much talked about" paving project would start on Deep Cut Orchard Hollow/ Road.

"These people have been promised for over a year now to have their road paved," Scott said. "How much longer is it going to take? They are still driving on a dirt-gravel road."

City engineer Joe McCallister said the project is one step closer.

"We are real close to having most of the necessary steps completed," McCallister said at the meeting. "We have the surveys completed, and they will be forwarded on to the city solicitors to prepare deeds."

He said once the deeds are completed, the residents will need to sign off on them to give the city a certain amount of "right-of-way as city property."

Ironton Mayor Bob Cleary said the project is still a few months away.

"The completion of this project could happen by the end of this year, but it’s very unlikely," Cleary said. "Getting everyone to sign their deeds will take the longest, and we only have six to seven more weeks before the asphalt plants close for the season."

He said paving would be more likely to take place in the early spring.

Individual deeds will be written for a dollar, but the cooperation from residents on the road will only speed the process, McCallister said.

"Once the residents sign the deeds, then we will need to collect individual costs for the paving," he said. "They will receive a letter telling them what they owe. Then, they will need to provide the city with their individual portions of the funding."

The project won’t move forward until all the money has been secured, he added.

Councilman Jesse Roberts said at the meeting that recent criticisms have been "misinformed and misleading" as he read a chronological list of previous meeting minutes on the matter.

"We have, in fact, never acted on it," Roberts said. "The Public Utilities Committee has never recommended any action on this project, and, the only recommendation we have ever made is that the city not get involved in the matter. City council has never made any promises to anyone on this matter."

He said past projects have always required citizens living on the streets to pay for the first-time paving costs.

Council chairman Jim Tordiff said the holdup is the result of following procedure.

"We’re not saying we don’t have compassion; we just have to follow procedure," Tordiff said. "We do want to be fair, but we have to look at the whole picture and not just an isolated case."