RUSK — Standards for accepting roads spurred a debate between Cherokee County Comissioners after two road requests were made.

The court voted down a proposal to accept Liken's Road in Precinct 3, with its Commissioner Katherine Pinotti and Precinct 2 Commissioner Steven Norton in favor of adding the road.

The road was built by Larry Liken to connect his children's homes together. He said it is used often by the public as a turnaround, and has an area where school busses could turn around safely.

“My main concern is as I get older, I am less able to do the work I used to do,” Liken said. “If we can work it out where it is in the county system, that would alleviate a lot of problems and I wouldn’t have to be so concerned about doing the maintenance.”

Commissioners said the road has a better base and asphalt than the county road it connects to, however, it is 30-feet wide, and the standard for a right of way is 50 feet.

“I don't think we should start taking 30-foot driveways into the county,” Davis said. “Now that's my opinion.”

Pinotti said each road should be evaluated on an individual basis.

“If you take roads, it adds to our base of county maintained roads, but that doesn't mean we have to improve them,” Pinotti said.

Underwood said each road should be looked at and treated the same.

“The road is fine,” Underwood said. “I'm not much on the turnaround down there, but it's better than 80 percent of my dead-end roads. What I have to say is why do we want to digress and take in a road if we want our roads to be better?”

Assistant County Attorney Kelly Peacock said the county would have to choose between the flexibility  of looking at each individually or by a set of predetermined standards.

“You can't have flexibility and standardized rules,” she said. “That's unfair. I think as a court you need to make a decision on where you are going.”

Norton said even though the road was 30-foot wide, it was in good shape.

“He may be lacking in one area but over-compensating in another area, and it makes up the difference,” he said. “I think in the real world, you have to look at the whole picture and make a decision.”

The debate continued as the court discussed the stipulations for accepting Tarrant Road into the county's system. The court voted to accept the road in April, but in May debates began on whether the dirt road would have to be paved before it was accepted.

Pinotti proposed a price tag of $1,384 for the residents to pay to improve the dirt road and said maintenance costs could be rolled into her current road budget. But Traylor and then Underwood said the road should be an oil-top surface, which Underwood estimated would cost about $25,000. The cost, he said, could be passed onto residents over a five-year or longer term.

“Blacktopping is not going to work on this particular road,” Pinotti said Monday. “It has a 50-foot turnaround that you don't want to oil -and because the first trash truck that turns around is going to eat it out. It's going to rut it up. It's not applicable for oil sand. There is a lot of traffic on it. The residents do not want it. They want to keep their road like it is.”

Underwood countered and said he believed regulations called for the road to be paved and the court would be bending the rules to allow it as is.

“Section 253 of the subdivision rules says it has to have so much base (and) so much pavement,” he said. “You've already got the base. You've got the gravel. I didn't make any of the rules.”

Pinotti said each commissioner should be allowed to determine what the standard is for their precinct.

“It doesn't have to be paved,” she said. “Read your subdivision rules. It doesn't have to have a black top.”

In the end, the dirt road was accepted by a three to two vote, with Pinotti, Norton and Davis voting in favor and Underwood and Traylor voting against.