Mark Griffith, Allen County’s road and bridge director, is frustrated with a delay in dust control efforts.
Griffith hired a Kansas City company to spread calcium chloride on some local roads to control dust, but the company has repeatedly pushed back the work.
The county serves as a middleman and charges area residents a per-mile fee for the service on gravel roads, then contracts the work from another company.
“I’ve been getting a lot of phone calls about dust control,” Griffith told commissioners. “I’m almost to the point now if I call (the company) again and they say it’s going to be after July, I’ll reimburse people. It’s ridiculous. That’s halfway through summer.”
The problem isn’t isolated to Allen County, Griffith said. He’s talked with others across the state who are experiencing the same delays.
The company says the problem is related to scheduling and rain. Griffith first called in April but was told it was too early to schedule. Now, the company seems to have problems adjusting the schedule because of rain in other areas they serve.
Griffith said he sought multiple bids for dust control but only one company responded.
Commissioners suggested he go farther afield to look for vendors next year.
Griffith also plans to research options to do the work in-house, but said he’s not sure about regulations and equipment regarding the type of chemical used for dust control. Chairman David Lee suggested he also talk to other counties about a possible consortium.
Meanwhile, Griffith is continuing to gather prices on a water tank to spray gravel roads, such as West Virginia, to better control dust. He ordered his crews to tear up some blacktop roads and convert them to gravel in order to make more extensive repairs to the base and culverts. The county agreed to spray water on those roads to make up for the inconvenience. 
Noxious weeds
Rural resident Tom Cannon alerted commissioners to a problem with the county’s efforts to control noxious weeds.
He mows the right-of-way, including ditches, at his home and has planted daylilies and other flowers. About 10 days ago, noxious weed crews sprayed chemicals that killed the grass and flowers.
He emailed the department director, Kevin Turner, who apologized and told him crews may have been “overzealous” in efforts to control weeds.
Turner and Public Works Director Mitch Garner planned to visit the site and encourage crews to avoid spraying in places that were clearly landscaped. Commissioner Bruce Symes suggested that if they see a well-manicured ditch that needs to be sprayed, they should contact the landowner first.
“We get a lot of complaints about weeds so we try to spray as many as we can,” Commissioner Jerry Daniels said. “If someone is taking care of it, we don’t need to be spraying.”
