Voice of Voie: Loss of Investment in Lewis County Roads is Disappointing

Did you ever play SimCity 2000? It was this computer game I played a lot when I was a kid. Actually, I’d like to think it’s how I first learned to appreciate municipal government systems and the like.

If you aren’t familiar with the game, there are two major modes of play. You can attempt to operate a pre-built urban city, helping operate it through major natural disasters or alien invasions, or you can start from scratch and attempt to build your own city.

To win the game, you have to keep the city running within your given budget and allow your city to grow. If you plan a good city and make good decisions, your budget increases and you earn new and bigger options as your city expands, such as earning the ability to build freeways and interstates, instead of being limited to roads and highways.

One of the more interesting and realistic features to the game is the handful of advisers that give you feedback as you progress through the game. The transportation guy was quite memorable.

In the event that, for some reason, you cut your transportation and roads taxes below recommended levels, the transportation advisor would basically yell at you, saying things like “YOU’LL REGRET THIS!” and “HOW DARE YOU DO THIS!” — things along those lines. Then, when a transportation-related disaster would occur, he would taunt you with other random passive-aggressive automated banter.

Maybe that’s why I’ve always cared a lot about roads.

Over the last couple of years, as a resident of rural Lewis County, I’ve exchanged various correspondence with Public Works Director Erik Martin and other county public works staff over a few topics.

For instance, a few years ago, the county decided to no longer put white stripes down Macomber Road in Chehalis. Shortly after that, a woman ended up going off the edge of Macomber Road, near where the road intersects with Jackson Highway, into a large ditch while her children were with her in the car. I inquired as to whether or not the county would be re-striping that road at some point, following the incident, but as budgets have gotten smaller over time, it would appear that some dead end roads are simply no longer being side-striped.

I have always wondered (and have personally inquired) over the past few years why we don’t use a more highly visible paint application for county roads. Last I checked with the county, they use a special type of paint with glass beads applied over top of the paint to give it additional reflective properties.

But even the freshly applied lines on the newly surfaced areas of Jackson Highway, south of the Chehalis city limits, have been difficult to see in the rain. This time of year, the worn lines on the side of Rush Road are just as hard to see in the road glare and standing water.

Lines on our roads may seem like a trivial issue, but they serve a very real safety purpose.

I believe that our Public Works Department are good stewards of the dollars they are given. I also believe that they are good at what they do, with the resources they are able to obtain and afford. But I also believe that, as with most other county departments, they are trying to do more with less.

And I think that comes with risks that we don’t always fully consider as the general public.

As I mentioned, I’ve had some concerns about road maintenance for a couple of years now. So when I read this past October that $800,000 was shifted from the roads budget to the general fund to “help bridge a gap between expected expenditures and revenues,” it caught my attention.

In an October article in The Chronicle, Public Works Director Erik Martin said that likely $300,000 of that shift would impact the road maintenance budget. The other $500,000 would eliminate a drainage and culvert program.

Then, just this month, Lewis County commissioners had to approve a $1 million cash flow loan to cover payroll for the roads department. And, they’ll have less money to work with next year.

As we drove to Christmas Eve at grandma’s, the roads were snowy. We stopped on Cousins Road to help a rear-wheel drive Lexus make it up the hill. My husband helped push the car up the hill.

When he got back in the car, he pondered why we hadn’t seen any snow plows or anything that day. It was a Sunday — and Christmas Eve — but also a day when, traditionally, many people are traveling.

We weren’t sure that snow plows ran on weekends or holidays — but also wondered whether or not the lack of payroll and decrease of funds for the county roads department impacted any decisions to offer overtime shifts during this year’s snowy Christmas Eve. Or, would impact future inclimate weather road maintenance.

Based on Erik Martin’s comments in October following the levy shift — and the recent payroll and cash flow issues detailed in The Chronicle — the thought certainly crossed our minds.

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About 400 mylar emergency thermal blankets have gone out so far this year for homeless individuals. I’ll still be accepting the blankets through the annual Homeless Connect event at the end of January. You can purchase mylar blankets at Sunbirds or order them in bulk and have them shipped directly to The Chronicle, ATTN: Bvoie, 321 N. Pearl St., Centralia, WA 98531.

A sincere thank you to all who have sent blankets so far this year. The local organizations are always grateful when I drop a batch of blankets off.

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Brittany Voie is a columnist for The Chronicle.