After a Washington County Road Department employee sued County Judge Marilyn Edwards and other supervisors late last year, Edwards' chief of staff defended the county's work on two bridges the employee alleged to be poorly built. Dan Short said he would have "no compunction" with his family driving across either bridge.
"I have the utmost faith in the construction of the most recent bridge -- the Harvey Dowell Bridge -- and the next one, the Stonewall Bridge," Short said in early January.
What’s the point?
After tearing down part of a one $400,000 bridge project and setting a weight limit on another to address safety concerns, the Washington County judge needs to determine what went wrong and explain it to the public.
Two months later, Edwards put a three-ton weight limit on the Harvey Dowell Bridge, just southeast of Fayetteville, and ordered the demolition of the constructed part of the Stonewall Bridge just west of Prairie Grove.
"That construction should have never been done that way," Edwards told the Quorum Court, which allocated the money for each $400,000 bridge. "I didn't want anyone to think I was hiding anything from you."
In Arkansas, management of the county road department can easily be viewed as THE chief responsibility of a county judge. That's why this revelation is so shocking. Incompetence or inattention to the road needs of county residents can quickly do damage to the longevity of a county judge.
That's not the big issue here, as Edwards has already pledged her current term would be her last. But that background demonstrates how critical the job of road and bridge construction and maintenance is to the office. Having to put a weight limit on a bridge less than two years old and demolish the work on a second costly bridge represents a major failure for someone holding the county judge's office.
So the people in those office usually take great care to make sure their projects are done right. That apparently didn't happen in Washington County.
The Road Department employee, George Braswell, filed a federal lawsuit in December against Edwards and his other supervisors. Braswell claims in the lawsuit that he was punished and harassed last year for pointing out the two concrete bridges were not being built with enough metal rebar reinforcement. Now, Braswell looks like a whistle-blower who might have been the only one trying to do right by the public.
Oddly, the public has Edwards' political opponent in last year's election to thank for providing the evidence necessary to convince Edwards of the shortcomings involved in the bridges' construction. Former assessor Jeff Williams produced a video at the incomplete Stonewall Bridge last fall, before the election. In it, he easily pulls rebar out of the concrete by hand, demonstrating it had been inserted into drilled holes rather than contained in poured concrete as is the traditional practice.
Williams said he wanted to document Braswell's concerns, but chose not to reveal the information because he was assured by Road Department officials the bridges were safe. He turned the video over to Braswell's attorney when asked, Williams said.
At last report, Edwards had not fired or disciplined anyone in the wake of this costly sloppiness, or worse. William Reed, the Road Department's bridge supervisor, is retiring after 28 years of work, she said. But that still leaves a lot of answered questions. Nobody has offered an explanation, much less a satisfactory one, for how this could have happened. Except for Braswell's lawsuit and Williams' video, the public, in all likelihood, would have been using poorly built bridges for years to come.
One also has to ponder why a county Road Department would take such shortcuts on a project fully funded by the Quorum Court. Who benefits? Who ordered it done that way? And where did any "savings" from such shortcuts end up? Who builds a shoddy bridge just to build a shoddy bridge?
It would be troublesome indeed if Edwards was hiding something as serious as poor construction on county bridges from the Quorum Court or the public. We're glad she acknowledged what she really had no choice but to accept. It's just as troubling, though, that she nor anyone in her office apparently had a clue of the bridges' shortcomings. It naturally begs the question of what else hasn't been caught.
Now that the safety issue has been addressed, it's time for Edwards to deliver an explanation to the public and the Quorum Court.
Commentary on 03/30/2015