Council votes down request to support purchase of new pothole filling machine

A request from County Highway Superintendent Jason Peters and Commissioner Jesse Bohannon to support the $99,500 purchase of a new pothole patching machine, with the intention of selling the asphalt zipper to fund the purchase, did not pass Monday night.

Peters showed a video of the proposed machine in action and told council members the new machine even works on wet potholes with material that is more durable than the cold patch the county has been using. He said the machine blows out the pothole, including moisture and loose gravel, and then mixes dry, clean stone with emulsion, creating a level patch that is expected to stay in place for five years.

While the pair wants to purchase a new machine, the County Highway Department purchased a similar machine in 2006. That machine hasn’t been in use for several years, Peters said, when 85% of the county’s roads were rated as failed, the patches this machine works well on wouldn’t be productive to use on roads that bad, so the machine has been in storage. The highway superintendent said they are preparing the old machine and expect to have it on the road this week. 

Peters told the council that having two patching machines would allow two crews of three people each to work in different areas of the county.  his machine can also work earlier in the spring and later into the winter, as long as the stone isn’t frozen. 

County Council members had lots of questions, and members of the Highway Subcommittee were surprised at the request because it hadn’t been presented to them.

Commissioner Bohannon said he was in support of the request, saying these machines are a huge improvement to the process. He said, “From a political standpoint, I am so glad now that we have people in my position who share the council’s sense of urgency to fulfill the commitments we made to the public. I think this ask is in line with what we’ve all told folks we would do. I just don’t want to be held back from taking full advantage of a paving season by a short-term need of $100,000.” 

Councilman Tim Harman was supportive of the request and commented that he was going to make a motion. Councilman Jim Masterson said he felt the motion should come from the body rather than the president. Harman said he was a member and allowed to make a motion, and Masterson said, “Robert’s Rules will tell you that it comes from the body.”

Harman said, “Robert’s Rules doesn’t prevent a chair from making a motion.”

After further discussion, Harman made a motion to support using the General Fund in the future to fund the $99,500 for the pothole machine request, and Will Patterson seconded the motion. The motion died with three yes votes (Harman, Patterson, and Johnson) and four no votes (Masterson, Gorski, Cox, and Schadek). 

Bohannon and Peters were informed by County Auditor Angie Birchmier that even if they sold the zipper they would need to seek an additional appropriation for the purchase of the new pothole machine.