Gainesboro Aldermen will seek help to replace a portion of damaged road tile on State Route 53 at Short Street after a discussion Thursday.
Alderman Tom Goetz said the road has a hole that is dangerous and needs to be repaired. City Recorder Darla Pippin said the city had a dispute with the state on repairing the road tile back in 2018 after a flood.
“They wanted the state to come and fix the tile is what we are taking, and the state said it was not theirs,” Pippin said. “So Randy Heady and Senator [Paul] Bailey looked into it and found out that T-DOT was responsible, so that’s why they fixed the half that was fixed or something.”
The board agreed that it should be the state’s responsibility to repair the remaining damaged tile. However, Goetz said the town will likely have to get more people involved to convince the state to make the repair.
“It’s gonna take more than the town just us saying it,” Goetz said. “That is what I am saying, what next? Who else do we get involved in the fray? Because our [county] mayor is up for election, and Jim [Morgan] is just temporary or filling the position for now. We can start with him.”
Public Works Representative Joe Lynch said he had reached out to T-DOT about the hole since it is on a state highway, but they still told him it is not the state’s responsibility.
“The way T-DOT explained it to me is they don’t fix drains that are parallel with the road, they only fix drains that go under the road,” Lynch said. “I mean, that is what they told me, it’s all I know.”
Lynch said he also spoke to T-DOT Engineer Bo Hoskins about the road tile. Lynch said Hoskins seemed to believe T-DOT had an engineer who had plans for the repair. The alderman agreed for the town to reach out to T-DOT and potentially Senator Bailey to advocate for a repair.
In other business, the board rejected a request to reimburse the Gain Mod Art Museum for installing new handrails on a portion of the city’s sidewalk. Goetz was against reimbursement, as though the handrails looked great, they did not ask for permission to do so.
“I am of the opinion of no,” Goetz said. “You cannot just go do something and then ask us to pay for it later.”