Morgan County District 4 commissioner candidates focus on roads

Feb. 22—A main focus of the incumbent and two challengers in the Morgan County District 4 commissioner Republican primary is improving roadways by addressing the road conditions, drainage issues and funds available.

First-time commissioner candidates Charles Pitman, a lawyer, and Keith Allison, an automobile repair shop owner, are challenging incumbent Greg Abercrombie in the March 5 Republican primary for one of four commissioner seats. No Democrats are seeing the seat.

The salary for Morgan County commissioners is $89,465 annually. Commissioners are elected to four-year terms and, commissioner races are countywide elections. District 4 covers the eastern part of the county and includes about 310 miles of roads. The district includes Cotaco, Union Hill, Lacey's Spring, Ryan Crossroads, Valhermoso Springs and Florette.

Pitman said there are many roads in District 4 that need to be addressed.

"We still have a lot of chip seal roads ... in District 4," he said. "I think we need to finish bringing those up to standard for asphalt, kind of modernize those."

Pitman said he would prioritize roads by first looking at their age and overall condition.

"You look at the population around the roads and the frequency at which they're driven," he said. "It makes common sense to me that you would work on the most heavily traveled, poorest condition roads first, and then work your way to the roads that are either less traveled or that are in better condition."

Allison said, if elected, his first focus would be the drainage issues in District 4, depending on the budget.

"A lot of it's down in the Lacey's Spring area where you have drainage problems and road problems," he said. "I see a lot of folks out on the side of the road trying to clear out ditches with shovels."

Allison said a lot of the secondary roads in the district need attention.

"The drainage problems are actually causing the bad road conditions," he said. "They're washing out roads, and we have a lot of roads that are in bad shape."

Abercrombie said, if reelected, he wants to continue to pave roads as he has been doing.

"All four districts get the same amount of money; it doesn't have anything to do with how many miles this one has or how many miles that one has. So, the more miles you have, that means you're going to have to watch your money closer in order to pave," he said. "I would put our district up as one of the best districts as far as roads."

Abercrombie said he goes by the condition of the road when it comes to deciding which to pave first.

"If the road is in bad shape, it gets the higher part of the list," he said. "On Rebuild (Alabama funds) I've paved my portion of that already. Part of that was Rock Creek (Road), and part of that was Fields Road."

Abercrombie said if he is reelected, he will continue to take care of the taxpayers' money to the best of his ability.

"I've built two senior sites since I've been in, I've built one park since I've been in, and then we've straightened out a major intersection at the Union Hill area," he said. "The county as a whole, we've built a new tag office behind my district shop, and we built a tag office at Hartselle. Since I've been in also, we have built the environmental building and the dog pound."

Abercrombie said they are looking at bidding out the event center in Cotaco this week.

"It would consist of two gymnasiums, all in one building, and then we'd be able to play volleyball, pickleball, have a walking track," he said. "Since I've been in, we've acquired roughly 100 acres of land that the county owns in my district. ... This enables us as time goes on that anything we might have in the future that comes up as something we want to do or something we want to build, we've got land already set aside."

Allison said if he is elected, he will work to prioritize the most important projects.

"If people elect me to be a county commissioner, I will be on top of it all the time, however long I stay there," he said. "There will be needs and wants, and I guess it will be my job to sit down and sort out what is a need and what is a want."

Allison said he would make himself available to district residents.

"I plan on having an active office. I will be available to talk," he said. "I will be in the office. If you can't get me in the office, you will be able to contact me in some way."

Pitman said if he is elected, he will prioritize running the commission office efficiently and effectively.

"What that comes down to for me, we're making sure taxpayers' dollars are spent wisely and the services we're responsible for delivering, we do in a timely manner. We do that without creating new taxes," he said. "I would really want to prioritize initiatives that promote economic growth, job creation, what we do to support small businesses in the community, infrastructure investments to attract new industries to our areas."

Pitman said he would work toward improving education and health care so that everyone in the community can thrive.

"How can we work to strengthen employee retention within the county? What does that look like? How can we retain and attract employees and reward those that work so hard for the county, for the community?" he said. "It's no secret that we have been through a very high period of inflation, so I'd want to look at how inflation has affected our cost."

—erica.smith@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2460.