It was while talking about the weather that Boone County Emergency 911 Center Executive Director Greg Lay received a call from Homeland Security.

Initially, Lay was telling the Coal Valley News how the county had been spared from the forecasted heavy rains that were projected for the area.

“We didn’t get the amount of rain we were

projected over the weekend. We had a little below an inch and a half. The National Weather Service had said if we had three inches in a 6-hour period, there would be flooding, and we were preparing ourselves for flooding,” Lay commented.

Then, the phone on his desk rings in and Lay holds a brief conversation with a member of Homeland Security.

“They’re following up on a letter that Gov. Manchin sent to them, after a letter that I sent to the Governor,” Lay explained.

This letter, as Lay shares, was written on behalf of a group of concerned Boone County residents in Powell Creek and the Ottawa area.

“Two areas of the county are of particular concern at this time due to the conditions of the access to homes in the area. The first is a wooden walk bridge that is located in the Powell Creek area of the county,” Lay’s letter surmises.

The letter informs Gov. Manchin that the walk bridge is the only access several residents have during times when the river is too deep to cross via vehicle and many residents contend that this bridge, now in disrepair, is the property of the Division of Highways and has been maintained by the state in the past.

“You see, they’ve [the State of West Virginia] repaired the bridge years and years ago. There’s been a debate, though, as to who owns and is responsible for the bridge,” Lay explains.

“I know it’s hard for people to understand that if it it’s not in the State’s right- of-way, they can not use public money to maintain the road or bridge,” he said, further noting that there would be no difference from asking the State to repair the bridge than to ask State employees to come and mow a private citizen’s grass for them.

“What that money was used for in the past was to allow access during emergencies,” Lay explains.

“There is a policy in place that if an emergency is declared, and funding is available, the State can help. Everything operates on dollars,” he said.

“So, I sent this letter to Governor Manchin, to see what process we could take to get some assistance. They replied, stating that they would send a letter to Commissioner Paul A. Mattox, of the Department of Transportation and Director Jimmy Gianato, of the State Homeland Security Emergency Management Office. That was them just now on the phone following up to know how many families and roads are in the Powell Creek area,” Lay said.

“Prior to 2000, they had a program where they were taking orphan roads into the system. We had a lot of roads taken into the system. A lot of them,” he said.

According to Lay, everyone on the road, though, had to agree to be taken into the system and had to sign over a right of way to the State. “For some reason, there were instances where a single family held up roads from being taken over by the State,” he said.

According to Lay, there are approximately six swinging bridges in the county. “There are two less, now, because a couple of them collapsed and only two of the ones that remain are owned by the State. Those bridges have a number just like a road does,” Lay explained.

The areas with swinging bridges includes Fostervile, Maxine, and Emmons.

“In most cases, these bridges are in places where the people in the area don’t have the resources to fix them,” he said.

“I’ve been here 12 years and it’s been an issue since I’ve been here,” Lay said. “Anything that doesn’t get constant preventative maintenance becomes an issue. It becomes a community issue.”

“Even if the State owned them, at some point, the highways will abandon them if they’re not used,” Lay explained.