LITTLE VALLEY — With a long, cold winter stretching into spring, the Cattaraugus County Public Works Department is a little behind in addressing potholes on county roads.
“We’re almost a month behind schedule,” said Mark Burr, Public Works director of engineering. “We’ve gotten a lot of calls.”
Temporary cold patch material succumbs to freeze-thaw cycles and often needs to be replaced. “We done good on temporary repairs, but it’s time to get on (laying asphalt) as quick as we can. We need some real good weather to do it.”
“I know we are behind the eight-ball,” he added. “We may be working a few hours of overtime to catch up.”
The engineering director said the county plans to treat or reconstruct 35 miles of county roads this year with extra money in the budget. Some will be contracted out to private companies, while county crews will do in-house paving.
Burr also released the preliminary 2018 road condition ratings. The computerized results are from a computerized look at each mile of the 400 miles of county roads going back to 2010.
Legislator Joseph Snyder, R-Ischua, said indications are that the added millions the county has spent on roads in the past few years seem to be paying off. He contrasted the 2014 average condition rating of 6.53 (on a scale of 10) to the 2018 rating of 6.89 as evidence the overall pavement condition has improved.
“We’ ve done a pretty good job of investing money in roads to keep the scores from going down,” Snyder said. “All we’ve done is stop the decline. We’ve done a lot of work and spent a lot of money.”
The question now is how to free up more money to keep the momentum going. “It’s a legislative issue to find the money.”
County Administrator Jack Searles said the county legislature has increased funding for roads.
Burr said the Public Works plans have been geared toward “keeping the good roads good,” but that left less available for roads with low scores in the 4 and 5 range that were an indication of major reconstruction needed.
IN OTHER NEWS, Searles recommended approval of a contract with Treahy Consulting Service, which has assembled a number of counties to provide secure and non-secure youth detention for 16-year-olds under Raise the Age legislation that requires counties to arrange for separate facilities for these youth starting Oct. 1. Next year, Raise the Age will be extended to 17-year-olds.
Allegany County and 12 other Southern Tier, Finger Lakes and Central New York counties are expected to join the consortium. Costs other than construction are reimbursed by the state.
A facility is unlikely to be available by Oct. 1, so counties are eyeing backup plans.
Anthony Turano, acting commissioner of Social Services, said ordinarily there may be one youth from the county at a time at a secure or non-secure facility.
Searles said the county needed to submit a plan to comply with the new Raise the Age law. Sometimes there isn’t a bed in Buffalo or Rochester and a youth has to be transported as far away as Westchester County.
Treahy Consulting Services will assist in developing a potential regional site and charging each participating county $15,000, Searles said. “It’s a potential solution and it buys us some time.”
The resolution authorizing the contract will be submitted for immediate consideration at next Wednesday’s county legislature meeting.
Snyder suggested locating the youth detention facility in Cattaraugus County. “We’d have control of our situation” and receive the revenue.
“The state won’t pay for the buildout,” Searles said.
Turano said only a few youths are currently being sent to out-of-county detention facilities. “The trend is to keep them in the community,” he said, adding that is seen as more cost-effective and therapeutic. “We do more preventive work than placement.”
(Contact reporter Rick Miller at rmiller@oleantimesherald.com. Follow him on Twitter, @RMillerOTH)
