Secondary Roads News & Info
General News and Information
The Secondary Road Department is in charge of construction and maintenance for all of the Secondary Road System of Fremont County. This includes all roads not located within the city limits of any incorporated town, or highways on the Primary Road System which includes US 275, US 59, IA 184, IA 145, IA 2, IA 333, and IA 239. As such, Fremont County's Secondary Road Department is responsible for 750 total miles of which 165 miles are paved or seal coat and the remaining being either granular or dirt surfaced.
The Secondary Road Department is divided into two divisions, Engineering and Maintenance. The County Engineer, who is hired by the Board of Supervisors, is in charge of both divisions. The Code of Iowa requires the County Engineer to be a Licensed Professional Engineer in Iowa.
Engineering Division
Duties of the Engineering Division include: the design and construction of road and bridge projects, contract administration, permitting, budgeting and program development. In addition, the division handles the personnel administration and accounting for both divisions. All permits are issued by or through the Engineer's Office. Permits are required for the following: driveways, tile crossings, digging or construction within the right of way, utilities, and dust control. If you have a request for any issue concerning the road system, look through the website and feel free to contact the County Engineer. The Engineer should be contacted if you are interested in upgrading or paving a road, vacating or closing a road, or if you are interested in changing the road classification. The County Engineer also serves as an engineering consultant to the Board of Supervisors when requested.
Maintenance Division
The Maintenance Division is responsible for roadway maintenance, snow removal, tile crossing repair, bridge and culvert repair, ditch cleaning, dust control, and roadway signing. These functions performed by the Maintenance Division are carried out by the Maintenance Superintendent under the direction of the County Engineer.
Current News and Information
Changes in Personnel
Despite what has been said and printed in the newspapers, I would like to clear up what is going on at the department. When I started here we had three foreman. Most secondary road departments have now included a Maintenance Superintendent. I decided that we would eliminate the three foreman and replace them with one administrative position, namely the Maintenance Superintendent. The Maintenance Superintendent works directly with the lead persons of each crew on day to day maintenance matters.
New County Shop
Since I started here on October 1, 1999, I have been working closely with the board of supervisors to set about building a new shop. The board felt we were in need of a new facility and we have been working on this for quite some time. The initial work began by hiring an architect to work on a needs study and develop the relative size of the facility needed. This was completed so that when the facility is done we will have everything (except patrols), in one place. With this information we proceeded to look for land to build the new facility. Three sites were considered and ultimately it was decided to purchase land adjacent to our lower yards. The architects have since been working on designing the facility. The new facility will be paid for out of secondary road funds and will be built over a period of years in order to complete the entire project.
SF 451 - Transfer of Jurisdiction and other Legislative News
The legislature has passed a bill and it is now on the governor's desk to be signed. The main points of this are summarized as follows: SF 451 – Modified RUTF Committee report. Transfers approximately 712 miles of IDOT level 5 roads to the counties. Made the Counties responsible for FM Extensions in cities with a population of 500 and below. An amendment was attached which required the dollars transferred to counties under this bill to be deposited in the Secondary Road Fund of the county and any interest earned on this transferred money also must be credited to the Secondary Road Fund. Lowers the requirements to establish Level “C” Roads. This bill takes effect July 1, 2003. We will be taking over State Highways 145 from 275 to I-29, 184 from 59 to 275, and 239 ( The entrance into the State Park ). The legislature has found all kinds of ways to balance their budget, while leaving many counties to fend for themselves. Some dollars come with these transfers, but not nearly enough. You will notice in the future and especially during the winter, that we cannot provide the same level of service as the DOT has in the past.
GASB 34 - New Accounting Procedure to Start June 16, 2003
