FAYETTEVILLE -- The Washington County Judge has asked the county prosecuting attorney to look for criminal wrongdoing within the county Road Department after shoddy construction of at least one county bridge was revealed earlier this month.
Judge Marilyn Edwards' request is the latest step in a department dispute that has led to a federal lawsuit and broader questions about how safe the county's bridges are. It came two weeks after she ordered the Road Department to demolish and redo the unfinished Stonewall Bridge west of Prairie Grove and post a 3-ton weight limit on the Harvey Dowell Bridge, which has been open since late 2013 outside Fayetteville's southeast edge.
Edwards took these steps in response to a video released earlier this month that shows former Assessor Jeff Williams pulling rods of rebar by hand out of an unfinished column at the Stonewall Bridge. Doing so should have been impossible if crews followed the bridge's designs and building convention.
Edwards said she wanted an investigation to answer four questions: what went wrong in the construction process, who's responsible, what's going on in the Road Department to make such mistakes possible and whether any crime was committed.
"There's so much of this I did not know about," Edwards told the Quorum Court's Public Works Committee during its Monday meeting, which focused primarily on the bridge concerns. She said she received the video earlier this month as part of the lawsuit's exchange of evidence.
Prosecuting attorney Matt Durrett, whose jurisdiction includes Madison County, said he was aware of the request but hadn't had a chance to review it and decide whether his office's involvement is appropriate.
"I didn't commit to it one way or the other," he said after the meeting.
The two bridges are the backdrop of a civil rights lawsuit against Edwards and other county officials filed in December in U.S. District Court by George Braswell, a Road Department heavy equipment operator. Braswell claims he was punished and harassed by his supervisors last summer and fall after pointing out the two bridges weren't being built with enough rebar reinforcement and could therefore crack or collapse. The county has denied any harassment.
Harvey Dowell passed a state Highway and Transportation Department inspection after its construction. The department also generally inspects bridges for deterioration every two years after they're built.
To correct the shortcomings, the county will reinforce Harvey Dowell's supports, and the Arkansas-based engineering firm GTS Inc. will supervise the rebuilding of Stonewall, said Dan Short, Edwards' chief of staff. Both projects should cost about $55,000 altogether on top of the bridges' combined price of about $800,000, he said.
Committee Chairman Harvey Bowman, a Republican justice of the peace from central Springdale, asked Edwards, Braswell and Williams to tell the Quorum Court what they knew and thought of the situation.
Edwards' comments were relatively short; she said she oversees 200 employees in 14 departments, a "wonderful group of people" who do the best work they can. Edwards hasn't yet fired or penalized anyone, but bridge supervisor William Reed retired this month after 28 years with the county.
Braswell and Williams, meanwhile, strongly criticized Edwards and her subordinates. Williams called for an independent investigation to hold officials and employees accountable. Braswell, in his first public comments since filing the lawsuit, said he had warned Edwards and others of the problems for months beforehand.
"I blew the whistle many, many times, and I paid the price," Braswell said. "This case is about a cover-up."
The justices of the peace said professional supervision and an investigation are essential to make sure whatever happened doesn't happen again. Many wondered if other county bridges were subpar and whether the Road Department has had problems for years.
"The public and us, we want to know more," Eva Madison, Democrat of Fayetteville, said. The investigation might be beyond the prosecutor's bounds or resources, she added. "I wonder if the attorney general's office would be better-suited."
Dan Holtmeyer can be reached at dholtmeyer@nwadg.com and on Twitter @NWADanH.
A Section on 03/31/2015