WESTOVER – The city of Westover is looking to make some emergency repairs to Solomon Road.
During Monday’s regular meeting of Westover City Council, Thrasher Group’s Doug Smith said the estimated cost to address roughly 2,500 square feet of failing roadway is $87,500.
“We believe the failure of the road has to do with water coming in from the ditch, getting into some of the clay material, then the heavy equipment and traffic over top of it is basically causing it to fail underneath from lack of support,” he explained.
Councilor Ali Jackson said he believed that process has been hastened significantly by heavy traffic, including construction equipment and a pod storage facility. Jackson said he doesn’t understand why the city is on the hook for any of the repair costs.
“I believe that had this been a residential roadway that was only used by cars, I’m not saying it would not have happened, but it certainly would have taken a much longer period for it to happen and certainly not to the extent that it has,” Smith said. “It’s pretty substantial. It’s taken some pretty heavy loads to cause it to fail the way it has.”
Westover annexed the road along with some 170 acres into the city in late 2020. As part of that annexation the city agreed to pay up to $400,000 for the road’s reconstruction, with another $60,000 coming from developers.
City Attorney Tim Stranko said there has been a verbal commitment from a private developer to assist in the cost of these latest repairs, which, he added, need to be done in short order.
“If it’s not repaired by the winter time, there will be significant failures. We’d like to move this job as quickly as possible,” he said.
In other Westover news, council agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by resident Frank Huy claiming the city unlawfully denied him proper access to public records.
The settlement is for $1,369.59. Stranko said it would likely cost the city $5,000 to litigate the case in circuit court.
“We believe we could win this case, but the question is what is a win for the city,” Stranko asked, adding, “The settlement agreement does not admit liability on our part … So although we are confident we would win the litigation, this is, I believe, a sound business decision for the city to resolve this issue and get it behind us.”
Also on Monday, Westover Police Chief Joe Adams said his department helped run down Wallace Anthony Booth, a fugitive wanted by the U.S. Attorney’s office, the U.S. Marshals and the ATF.
Booth was indicted last week for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and unlawful possession of a firearm. He was tracked down Monday afternoon in Westover.
“He led us on a nice little foot pursuit today, several officers, but we got him without incident,” Adams said.
Lastly, council unanimously adopted a zoning change for three parcels along West Park Avenue from R-1 (residential) to R-3C (commercial). The change was requested by former Westover Mayor Dave Johnson.
