Letter to the editor: Stutsman County should have a county road board

Lately we’ve been reading about the activity of a couple county boards.

Think about this: Stutsman County has had a county library board, presently with a $158,000 budget, a county weed board with a $252,000 budget, a county zoning board, a senior citizens board and a social service board.

The Jamestown/Stutsman Development Corp. has a board with a $1.35 million annual budget, of which only $150,000 is county funds. Yet our county road department with more than a $2 million budget has no county road board. Why?

The Stutsman County commissioners have not been voted in by district for some time, leaving many areas in the county without representation. With 63 percent of Stutsman county roads now at the end of their life cycle, worn out, it’s evident this change, how we vote commissioners into office, certainly has not ensured all county roads of being maintained.

Why have we left the fate of our valuable road system to only one or two commissioners appointed to the road department? Then again, why would only one or two commissioners want that responsibility?

Why do we not have a county road board? Let’s hope we get an answer!

Judy Graves

Ypsilanti, N.D.

Tags: stutsman county, opinion, roads