Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Paying costs for materials and labor were agreed upon
COLFAX — Whitman County commissioners decided to pay a citizen for installing a culvert to prevent flooding on his property.
The county agreed to cover the cost for materials and estimated labor, after initially offering to pay for just materials.
Whitman County commissioner’s chairman Art Swannack made the decision to issue a check for $2,554.23 to Aaron Johnson.
“I think it’s fair,” said Public Works Director Mark Storey. “I am fine with the resolution that Commissioner Swannack came up with.”
The decision came after Johnson hired a private contractor to install a culvert on his property
last fall after a water event attributed to work done nearby on the Almota Four road reconstruction project last summer.
The stormwater runoff occurred when Palouse River Rock happened to be on-site to clean up a fertilizer spill from an earlier truck roll-over.
As water moved toward Johnson’s yard and his wife’s flowerbed, Johnson was concerned that fertilizer and diesel were mixed in.
He asked Palouse River Rock to address the stormwater matter. They put in the culvert a day later, directing runoff water away from the property. Johnson later gave the invoice to the county and asked for reimbursement.
Public Works offered to cover materials cost while not wanting to set a precedent for the county to pay for private work that Storey said the county should have performed.
The county payment will be $685 less than Johnson paid the contractor.
“I am appreciative that (the county) allowed me to come share what this looked like from my perspective,” Johnson said.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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