RID petitions still short signatures

The future of paved roads in Lincoln may be in doubt if property owners in town don't get on the ball and sign the petitions for the chip seal projects planned for next year on the town's two Rural Improvement District.

"These roads are not asphalt roads. They're double shot chip seal, so ... it's important to keep up with maintenance of that. Once it starts to unravel, it can unravel quickly," said county Special Districts Program Coordinator Jessica Makus

Lincoln's two RIDs, the Lincoln RID, which covers most of the town's paved streets, and the Lambkin RID that covers the paved streets east of North 8th Avenue north of the highway, are on a seven to nine year cycle for chip sealing. They were last resurfaced in 2014 and were scheduled again for 2021. However, restrictions related to COVID-19 hampered the county's ability to engage with Lincoln residents and Lewis and Clark County Public Works, in conjunction with the Upper Blackfoot Valley Community Council, made the decision to push it back a year.

This year, economic conditions added another set of issues in the form of higher costs fore repair materials.

"We were on a seven-year cycle with chip seal, but with the inflation we saw this year, something like 14 percent for asphalt hard-surface roads, we're short. It's unfortunate. I hope to keep a better eye on it moving forward so we're not in this position again," said Makus, who was hired for the newly created special districts program coordinator in 2019. "As it stands right now, to get this done we need those signatures."

As of Nov. 29, the petitions were still far short of the number of signatures needed to allow the county to move ahead with securing funding for the projects. The Lincoln RID requires 68 signatures, but only has 47. And while the Lambkin RID needs just 17, it has been signed by just six residents of the district.

"Lewis and Clark County has a policy where we require 20 percent support before we will consider a loan for improvement," said Makus, who added they must follow that policy. "We need to see that 20 percent public support and we can get that process rolling."

The petitions can be found at the Lincoln Library or by contacting Zach Muse.

Makus said there's no hard deadline for the petitions, but all their chip seal projects go out together as one bid in March to get the best price, so they need to have the signatures as soon as possible, preferably by the end of Decembe, to have time get through the county resolution process and protest period.

"Once we have the signatures, it will go to a resolution of intention to do this," she said. "Then everyone will have a 30-day notice period."

The 30-day period is also the protest period, during which property owners in the RIDs can protest the projects in writing and submit them to the commission.

If more than 50 percent of residents in one of the RIDS protest the project, everything for that RID will stop and go back to the drawing board. Assuming the protests do not reach that mark, the commission will vote on a resolution at a public hearing to move forward with the project. Following legal notice, they will consider a third resolution that will begin the additional property tax assessment.

"That process takes at least one-and-a-half to two months, so I'm hoping we can be at least somewhere in that process. If we can be through the protest period by March, I think we can include this in the bid," Makus said.

Anyone with questions about the RIDs and the chip seal projects can contact Makus at 406-447-8029.