Between the tornado and storm in early May and the major storm at the end of July, the road department of Gilmer County has been stretched thin.
“I pray every day that we are through the worst of it,” said Gilmer County Public Works Director Ryan Steingruber. “What takes Mother Nature minutes to do takes us weeks and months to correct.”
Angry emails and phone calls have been coming into the Gilmer County road department office wondering why issues are not being addressed.
Steingruber said the department is in the process of triage right now. They are attempting to work their way down a list of problems, with the worst ones being bumped to the top of the list.
“We went through an entire year’s worth of gravel in five months,” he said. “We have absolutely blown out the budget.”
He said the July 30 storm was a gut punch. The department received the first call at 6:30 p.m. and then they lost power. All calls had to be routed through 911.
Road department workers spent 24 hour shifts responding to 58 calls which included downed tress, stopped up culverts and ditches.
“I’m proud of every single one of them,” Steingruber said.
These don’t count the calls to which the fire department or power company trucks responded.
Many times, they find out about those problems much later.
A department of 30 people gets stretched thin when maintaining 503 miles of road, he said.
“I am asking for a little grace and patience,” Steingruber said. “I understand the frustration, I really do.”
First off, he is asking people to not assume the road department is aware of a problem. Even if it is something minor, he is asking people to call the office at 706-635-4589 to report the issue.
“That way we can get a work order on it, track it, and we can get to it as soon as possible” he said.
Steingruber said if the department can fix a small problem, it can save money in the long run.
“I would rather fix a pothole than repave an entire road,” he said.
A solution would be paving many of the dirt roads. Steingruber said this would free up resources for more maintenance.
In the meantime, he said the department will work through their list of issues.
“I do want them to know people are listening to them,” he said.