Road Department: Summary of FOIA 11/19/18
6/19/18:
We sent a FOIA Request to Judge Baker on 11/19/18 to obtain records on the acceptance of roads into Faulkner County since January, 2015.
No Documentation
The file we got in response to our 11/19/18 FOIA contains 32 documents and/or County Orders related to roads signed by the Judge since January of 2015: 11 filed in 2015, 11 filed in 2016, 5 filed in 2017 and 5 filed in 2018.
Most of these Orders are the final, legal designation of county-maintained roads (usually multiples on one order).
Confirming what we learned back in June, 2018, Faulkner County has no documentation on roads taken into County maintenance since January 1, 2015, except these final Orders of acceptance.
What Process?
We have a one-page description of the road acceptance process from the Faulkner County website, and forms for a road improvement permit request and road inspection also appear on the website.
The website describes the process:
County Maintained Roads:
A County Maintained Road is a road within Faulkner County that has been accepted into the County Maintenance System by the County Judge. To bring a Private road into the County Maintenance System, the road must first meet Faulkner County Specifications set by Ordinance of the Quorum Court. Second, the road must be inspected by the Faulkner County Road Foreman for compliance to the road standards. After the road is inspected, it will set for one calendar year to test the roads integrity. The Road Foremen will come and inspect the road after the integrity check. When the road passes the final inspection, the County Judge, at their discretion, can court order the road into the County Maintenance System.
However, Faulkner County has not been able to produce any documentation related to this process, which roads are accepted, how such roads are chosen, reports of standards assessment, how road requests are run through the system, etc.
We find it highly irregular to operate a $16-million-a-year county department without any sort of documentation and process paperwork. Even though Faulkner County is now responsible for at least 150 more roads since January, 2015, we cannot verify that the designated road approval process has been followed.
Questions to Consider:
- When no such records exist, how does it happen that Faulkner County has taken in more than 150 roads since Judge Baker took office in January, 2015?
- Judge Baker is fond of saying the county has added 160 roads since he took office (as he told the Faulkner County Board of Realtors when running for office). We’d ask the same questions: Where is the accompanying documentation, the list of those roads? In other words, how does the Judge know it’s 160 roads if no backup documentation exists? (We found only 151 in our cross-referenced analysis.)
- Per the County’s stated process, permit fees for 151 roads would generate about $15,100. Where are the records showing the receipt (and expenditure) of those funds?
- Because no documentation exists to support the process that is found on the county website, exactly what process is being followed to bring a road under county maintenance?
- Perhaps the larger question: WHY is there no documentation verifying the work done to include 150+ new roads into County maintenance since January, 2015 when Judge Baker took office?
