11:14 a.m. Friday update
Eva Madison accepted the role of co-investigator in a letter Friday morning.
"I appreciate the trust you and my fellow Justices have placed in me, and I will work very hard to complete the investigation and report back on your timeline," Madison wrote. "I look forward to confirming the scope of the investigation and discussing some of my thoughts at Monday’s meeting."
Original Story
FAYETTEVILLE -- A Washington County justice of the peace and the county judge's chief of staff will investigate how and why the Road Department built at least one shoddy bridge, the Quorum Court voted Thursday, overriding a few members' objections.
The Quorum Court voted 11-3 to select Eva Madison, a Democrat and attorney from Fayetteville, as its first choice for the investigating justice. Republican Tom Lundstrum would take over if Madison bows out, followed by Republican Bill Ussery.
Washington County Quorum Court
The Quorum Court plans a special meeting Monday at 5:30 p.m. to formalize a bridge investigation plan. Meetings are held in the Quorum Courtroom in the county courthouse at 280 N. College Ave. in Fayetteville.
Source: Staff Report
Madison abstained, while Democrat Sue Madison and Republicans Rick Cochran and Joel Maxwell voted against.
The justice will work with Chief of Staff Dan Short to interview Road Department employees and determine who made the decisions to build at least one bridge with perhaps dangerously insufficient steel reinforcement, the Quorum Court decided. County Judge Marilyn Edwards, who oversees the department, said she hoped a report could come in two weeks.
The Quorum Court plans to formalize the plan during a meeting Monday.
"I'm asking for your help," Edwards, who proposed the plan, told the group. "The safety of the people of Washington County is my No. 1 priority."
The county is being sued by a Road Department employee who claims he was punished after pointing out unsafe building practices at the Harvey Dowell and Stonewall bridges. A video released last month, evidence in the lawsuit, appears to show rebar in the supports of Stonewall Bridge near Prairie Grove wasn't attached to the surrounding concrete. Short said officials believe Harvey Dowell Bridge could have similar problems. Whether other bridges are affected is unknown.
The county plan is meant to put an end to a scramble to find an appropriate investigator of the matter.
State Attorney General Leslie Rutledge on Thursday turned down requests from several justices to look into the Road Department, saying it was outside her authority. The 4th Judicial District prosecutor followed with a similar rejection, Edwards said.
"The county attorney in the first instance, and ultimately the courts, are better suited than this office to answer questions rises about administrative actions affecting the maintenance and construction of county bridges," Rutledge wrote in a letter to Eva Madison, who first asked for her involvement.
Edwards last month ordered the incomplete Stonewall Bridge outside Prairie Grove to be demolished and redone, while the Harvey Dowell Bridge near Fayetteville was placed under a three-ton weight limit.
Edwards also has asked the state Highway Department to inspect the 33 bridges built in the last 20 years. Rutledge repeated this request in another letter Thursday to department director Scott Bennett.
Danny Straessle, Highway Department spokesman, said Bennett would send his reply to Edwards, but couldn't say when.
"There are a lot of activities we have going on," Straessle said, pointing to highway groundbreakings and other projects in Northwest Arkansas and elsewhere.
Meanwhile, the county is also drafting a request to the Division of Legislative Audit to look into the Road Department's spending on its bridge projects.
The county's investigation should tackle the issue from a third angle, Madison said: The Road Department's inner workings and decisions.
Using one justice allows in-depth interviews with county employees to take place without the press present, county attorney Steve Zega said. The Freedom of Information Act requires the public to be notified if two or more elected officials meet to discuss government decisions and business.
When asked why employee interviews weren't already taking place, Short said he and Edwards were concerned the public wouldn't accept such an investigation as credible.
"We tried to determine a way of getting someone else to come in and do an investigation, and take it anywhere it went," Short said. "Tonight was our answer."
Maxwell, who voted against, said credibility was crucial, and someone outside the government may be best for the job. Sue Madison called the plan "completely inappropriate."
"I think Mr. Short has a conflict of interest in that he works for you," Sue Madison told Edwards, adding an investigation should have started "some time ago."
NW News on 04/17/2015