By Miranda Sergent
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications
One of the longest, roughest winters in many years reminded
Kentuckians that roadway maintenance is a huge priority in small Kentucky
communities. Midway has had some challenges and changes on that front lately,
and outgoing Mayor Tom Bozarth has ideas for an even bigger change.
Bozarth has an emerging idea that he thinks will better the
town of Midway. He wants to merge the city’s street department with Woodford
County’s road department. He says he doesn’t understand why the county has three road
departments and he thinks it would be logical to
merge them into one.
“The Woodford County
Road Department has the equipment and capabilities and it could save Midway and
Versailles money for our taxpayers,” Bozarth says, adding that the quality and
level of service would greatly improve for all three jurisdictions. The county has a road engineer.
Bozarth’s plan has several supporters, but not County
Judge-Executive John Coyle. He says the City of Midway would benefit from the
merging of road crews, but the county would not.
Bozarth says the Midway road crew has done a good job
maintaining the city’s streets, but if merged with the county crews, work could be more efficient and more
resources could be available. He said no one in Midway should have to lose
their job in a merger.
Midway mayoral candidates Sharon Turner and Grayson
Vandegrift, both on the city council, say they are interested in looking further
into the idea of merged road services if elected.
Vandergrift says, “I like the idea of looking into merged
services in certain cases so that Midway can save the taxpayers money and avoid
duplicating services.”
Turner said the idea is worth researching, and thinks the
merger of the police departments into the Versailles force, and the emergency
management agreement among the governments, both work well.
Midway-area
Magistrate Larry Craig agrees that merged services could be a great idea. “Anytime
you can do away with the duplication of services, it can be beneficial,” he
says. “You might spend the same amount of money, but efficiency would go up.
Merged services doesn’t mean you cut the budget necessarily, but you get more
for your dollar.”
Craig said Woodford County road crews have better equipment
than the City of Midway, and adding the cities’ equipment and workers would only
improve the services. He said that if the county could develop a contracting
system for the road crews like it has done for the police department; in the
long run money will be saved.
Coyle, who is running for re-election without opposition in
the May 20 Democratic primary, disagrees. He and Bozarth clashed over road
matters when Midway became a fourth-class city, like Versailles, Coyle and the
Fiscal Court stopped clearing snow in the city.
“The court and I felt we must
treat both fourth class cities alike so we no longer need to clear the roads
inside the Midway city limits,” he said. The city has hired a private contractor
for show clearance at a cost of about $20,000.
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