Jackson Commissioners Table Repair Decision On Cemetery Roads

Jackson County Commissioners will further discuss the idea of an agreement between the county and the county highway department to allow for repairs to roads housing cemeteries.

The Highway Department cannot repair any roads not owned by the county within an interlocal agreement. Such an agreement exists within the Jackson County Schools, according to County Mayor Randy Heady, where the highway department agrees to do the work. Road Superintendent Daniel Garrison bills the non-county agency.

“There’s several cemetery roads in this county that are not county roads,” Heady said. “They’re in the back of a field somewhere. The roads are rough. Well, they’ve been taken care of from time to time, and Daniel don’t want to do the work on them because he ain’t supposed to without an agreement.”

Commissioners examined a list of 19 roads housing burial sites in some state of disrepair. Heady said residents often call about the issue and asked for the road to be fixed. Another commissioner said he had read there as many as 280 cemeteries in Jackson County.

“A lot of them are short roads, tenth, two tenths, three tenths,” Heady said. “My only concern is that’s going to add up in money, and I have to pay for that. So we fix all of them. I may be coming to you and asking you for more money to do that. If it’s $1,000 or if it’s $2,000, $3,000, that’s fine. But we don’t have a line to pay this out of. I’ve paid out of county buildings budget. If it runs into $10,000, that’s a different story.”

Garrison said the roads do bring tourists to the area. He also expressed concern about the need for mowing of the cemeteries and suggested a requirement with the cemetery leadership that the area receive upkeep if the road is to be fixed.