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Nice road work, but wrong place
(by Joseph Koziol Jr. - July 15, 2011)
Nice road work, but wrong place
By JOSEPH KOZIOL JR.
Everyone agrees it was a beautiful job of chip-and-seal on Woodiebrook West in Munson Township. Trouble is, the job was actually scheduled to be done about a mile away.
The work, done in Munson Township about two weeks ago, was actually planned for a stretch of Woodiebrook Road within the city of Chardon at the road's eastern end. Instead of applying the chip and seal on a road of similar composition, the mix of stone and asphalt was applied on an already paved road.
"It was a nice, smooth road and now it's no longer that," Trustee Andrew Bushman said. "It was a beautifully done chip and seal road, just in the wrong spot."
He said residents are understandably upset that their road, once a smooth thoroughfare that could also be used for biking and roller blading, is now a little bumpier.
Munson Trustees are expected this week to decide which option may be best to correct the situation.
Specialized Construction Inc., of Newburgh Heights, which had done the work has pledged to make things right.
In a letter to Munson Trustees, John R. Galik, the company's treasurer, apologized for the error, saying an incorrect map used by the company is to blame.
"We, at Specialized Construction, wish to sincerely apologize for any, and all of the inconveniences you may have experienced as a result of the chip seal surface treatment inadvertently applied to Woodiebrook Road within the township of Munson," Mr. Galik wrote.
"As a result of utilization of my early map version, created during the bid phase of the project, chip seal was placed on Woodiebrook Road west of Wilson Mills Road, where it should have been applied to the section between Beechnut Lane and Bass Lake Road in the city of Chardon."
Mr. Galik said last week he took full responsibility for the error. "I did it," he said.
He said he was responsible for the incorrectly marked map, but did not know how it got into workers' hands by the time they went to work that day. He said the error was not the fault of any other agency involved.
James Teichman, Munson Township Road superintendent, said he was making the rounds in the township, checking on his workers' progress in the duties when he spotted the workers finishing the first coat of chip and seal.
"I said, 'What the heck is going on here?'" Mr. Teichman said.
He said he stopped to speak with the workers, noting that they had done a "nice job."
Workers responded that they would be back the next day to apply a second coat. When he informed them that no such work was to be done there, they were stunned.
Mr. Teichman said the mix-up was surprising because the city had an inspector standing by the entire time the work was being done.
Mr. Bushman said the paved road had been resurfaced about seven years ago, but was in good shape because the cul-de-sac road sees little traffic, other than local traffic.
He said trustees are looking at asking for 1.5 inches of asphalt to be applied to the road to resolve the situation. However, Mr. Bushman said, that will cause driveways to be lower than the roadway, so other work will also likely have to be done.
Mr. Teichman said it is likely the company already spent around $14,000 for the work done and faces a cost of around $40,000 for the work to resolve the issue.
"That's a heavy hit for any business to take at this time," Mr. Teichman said.
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