County agrees to relocate portion of Radcliff Road

MOUND CITY – After much discussion on Monday, June 6, the Linn County Commissioners agreed to relocate and blacktop a section of Radcliff Road near Reagan Road that is being washed away by the Marais de Cygnes River. The only condition was that they will be allowed to see the plans for the dike before the work is started.

Thompson said the county was under somewhat of a time constraint, because the work had to be done by the end of the year. The landowner, Getter Farms, has some licensing in place and in process for the dike that they are building, and they cannot do that until we get the road done.

The agreement that the landowner is proposing is that the county sign an agreement about fixing the road by July 1 and that the construction will be done by the end of the year.

Thompson told the commissioners that they had four options to choose from: Relocate and put a hard surface on the road after raising it; relocate and gravel the road; leave it where it is; or close the road.

Commissioner Rick James said that the landowner will not give the county the land or the dirt for the project unless the county agrees to raise and relocate the road and pave it.

James said he thought it was a fair option because he did not want to close the road.

Commissioner Danny McCullough said that if the county did not fix it right, the county was going to keep spending more money on it.

James said that he hated somebody telling the commissioners that they had to do that.

Thompson said the way it was going, it would fall into the river at some time.

James suggested the commission could refuse the offer and go to court to condemn the land.

Thompson said the road was going to cost about $128,000 plus the labor and machine time at about $20,000 for three employees to work on it.

Thompson reiterated that it had to be blacktopped or the county would have to condemn the land to move the road. The landowner will give the county the land to relocate the road and the dirt to raise it if that section of road is paved.

The commissioners discussed the logistics of the dikes. Thompson said that he understood that these dikes would catch a certain percentage of the floods but sometimes the floods are high enough they will top the dikes.