A woman from the Blue Springs community is determined to take her battle for better roads to state and federal officials armed with a petition.
Dolores Porter attended a Marion County Board of Supervisors meeting last month to discuss road conditions across the county. She heard from board members about the lack of state and federal funding. This week, Porter was back, armed with a petition and collecting signatures in hopes to help counties and municipalities obtain funding for roads and bridges.
“I’m very persistent with trying to see what we need to do to in our county to help you guys,” she told the board. “I’m surveying each of your beats. My concern is the safety of the roads. Many are dangerous for school buses. You can’t pass somebody because the two lanes are not in good enough shape. You have to drive down the middle of the road sometimes to avoid the holes.”
Porter’s petition says that “as a community, citizens are grouping together to show concern for the distress and neglect of the maintenance of the community: road repair, including weeds and clear roads for the taxpayers of Marion County.”
The petition specifies eight areas of concern, including bad road conditions, unsafe roads, construction almost gone on previous roads, impassable conditions in areas, potholes and loose gravel, unsafe for school buses and vehicles, car damage occurring from road conditions and road signs for speed limits or caution.
“You were elected to provide a service,” Porter told the board. “I want to know what we can do to help. The petition is out and going in the community. Everybody wants a change. It’s not getting any better. The roads are not being maintained, grass is not being cut. I am an advocate who listens to complaints.”
District 1 Supervisor and Board President Randy Dyess, who is Porter’s supervisor, said the county is trying to do work in all areas.
“What we’re missing is the resources,” he said. “We’ve been mowing for three months and can’t keep up. It’s the cost of it. We each have a $500,000 road budget and our salaries and benefits take up more than $300,000 of that. When it costs more than $100,000 to repave a mile of road, there’s no money left to do anything.”
When Porter asked about tax dollars and allocation, District 2 Supervisor Terry Broome said that the taxes don’t all go to the county or city.
“Fifty-eight cents out of every dollar goes to the schools – we don’t touch that,” he said.
Dyess said that county residents could afford the taxes that would be necessary to fix all of Marion County’s roads.
“You couldn’t pay them,” he said. “The bottom line is money. We just don’t have enough money to pave the roads. If I had the money, I’d pave every road in the county. Our hands are tied. If we raised taxes by 1 mill, we could pave a little over one mile in each beat. Each mill raises $140,000 in Marion County. In Lamar County, 1 mill raises $1.8 million. It’s a big difference.”
Porter said she understood but still voiced concerns.
“Many of these roads haven’t been maintained in 30 or 40 years,” she said. “There’s no improvement and they haven’t been maintained.”
Dyess agreed with Porter’s assessment.
“Really, I understand,” he said. “I have to drive on them, too.”
“People from out of town come in to visit or go to a funeral and they see the roads,” Porter said. “It’s embarrassing. The roads in the Christian Union and Blue Springs area are really bad. I’m going to take this to Jackson to see what can be done. My next stop is MDOT.”
Broome encouraged Porter and the petitioners to keep up the fight.
“Citizens have more power than we do as supervisors,” he said.
Porter said she would take the concerns to everyone who would listen.
“This petition is to help you with funds that we need for the whole county,” she said. “I’m going to take them to state and federal leaders. We’re a forgotten county. We need help. I’m a voice for the people.”
Pictured Above: District 2 Supervisor Terry Broome looks at photos of damage to area roads shown by Dolores Porter as she spoke with the board. | Photo by Mark Rogers
