Genesee Township Supervisors Take Bridge Matters Into Own Hands
2 min readMembers of the Genesee Township Board of Supervisors took matters into their own hands when it came to addressing serious structural deficiencies with two of the township’s aging bridges. Their efforts drew the praise of Doug Morley, chairman of the Potter County Board of Commissioners, during the 81st annual convention of the Potter County Association of Township Officials. “At the risk of singling out one township, I want to commend the team in Genesee Township,” Morley told the group. “The work they did on those two bridge projects was a perfect example of a township working out its own solution to a local problem and using the skills of its own people to get it done.”
Faced with several expensive options to restore or replace bridges on Cemetery Road and Rag Hill Road, Supervisors Butch Calcote, Bill Elliott and Dick Cornell worked out a plan to build state-approved boxed culverts to carry traffic over two stream sections.
Genesee Township was fortunate, in that the supervisors themselves possessed the skills to perform much of the work, saving the townships tens of thousands of dollars.
“If the township would have been required to contract for this work, the cost to the taxpayers would have been considerable,” said township secretary Susan Williams. “Even the PennDOT district supervisor observed that the work was excellent. PennDOT was impressed with the tenacity and level of expertise that our road crew possesses.” She added that township officials had to adhere to environmental regulations covering stream diversions and equipment operation in the stream beds and banks.
