County engineer responds to criticism

Athens County Engineer Archie Stanley asserted this week that a woman who was upset about the removal of her garden in the right-of-way on a county road had been warned twice that workers would do so at some point, once 20 years ago and once four years ago.

The issue arose in the week before Christmas when Judy Teagarden of Pleasanton Road south of Athens returned home from work to find employees from the County Engineer's Office had uprooted and destroyed an embankment garden that she said she's maintained for the past 22 years. Teagarden complained that she had been given no prior notice that the roadside work was going to take place.

Teagarden said that all she would have needed was a one-week notice so she could remove and transplant the plants properly for their survival.

Stanley said she had been notified years ago that this was a possibility. On Monday, he said that his office was having the county prosecutor obtain a deposition from an employee who worked in the Engineer's Office 20 years ago. This employee, according to Stanley, met with Teagarden back then and told her that she couldn't have a garden where she had it.

"He's going to swear by his statement and everything else," Stanley said. "The reason I'm having this done is in case he should pass away. I hear we may get a lawsuit from this lady, and I want to be able to defend ourselves that she did have not only 20 years' notice, but the same thing happened again four years ago. She was given notice again."

Stanley also said that the first three days his crews were working on Pleasanton Road they ditched the roadside before they reached Teagarden's property.

"In essence, what I'm telling you is that she did have notice," Stanley said. "She had verbal notice. And we put it in the paper and everything."

This is why, he said, the office has now changed policy to notify residents of work with a certified letter. This will enable the office to prove that they gave notice, he said.

Teagarden maintained, however, that she had never been given this notice.

"I was told, 20 years ago "“ I had already planted shrubbery "“ and the county came by and I told them that I had already started taking care of the bank, and would like to continue," Teagarden said. "And the supervisor then said let me get back to you on that. I think it was just the next day that he came back and said it's OK for [me] to go ahead and plant; [they] probably wouldn't be doing anything with the bank."

Four years ago, Teagarden said, she asked county staff doing work on Pleasanton Road at the time if there was any problem with her garden or the railroad ties helping to prevent erosion around the garden.

"They assured me there was not," she said. Teagarden questioned why, if she was told to remove the railroad ties or the garden but did not, the engineer's office never came out to enforce their order.

She estimated that she lost about $7,000 worth of plants, shrubs, trees and flowers in the incident. When asked if she will seek compensation, she said, "I plan on asking someone, either the Engineer's Office or the commissioners." She did not mention a lawsuit.

Teagarden also maintained that Pleasanton Road did not present a safety hazard, and neither did her garden.

Stanley said his office determines where work is needed in the county by paying attention to the number of complaints and the amount of traffic and accidents on a given road.

"Mostly, we have 26 people out on the road almost every day, and they see things," he said. "We use our eyes and our ears. We're out on the roads every day, and, in essence, inspect the roads every day."

STANLEY ALSO DENIED accusations that have arisen since the Athens Messenger and Athens NEWS published articles about Teagarden's lost garden that he has in some way stepped away from his duties as county engineer and is leaving day-to-day operations to his staff, mainly deputy engineer Mike Canterbury.

"I haven't stepped away from anything," Stanley said. "I delegate. I'm a very good delegator. I entrust people who deserve that trust with a lot of responsibility and authority, and they take charge of that, and do an extremely good job."

That being the case, he said, nothing goes on in the county involving his office that he is not personally aware of taking place.

"I'm there every day," he said. "I'm on the job. I feel I do a very good job. I've been doing it for 30 years... I'm here. I'm alive and well. I'm not retired. I'm the county engineer. I do the county engineer's job."

Meanwhile, Teagarden repeatedly expressed frustration at what she deemed the bad attitude of county workers.

"I don't want this happening to anybody else," she said. "I want this kind of attitude and arrogance and abuse of the power that they have, I want it stopped. We deserve more respect than that."

Told of the news that the Engineer's Office will begin sending letters to residents, Teagarden said that this is a necessary step.

"There definitely needs to be notification," she said. "I know that many, many people are angry and upset about what [they] did out here."

A policy for eliminating roadside obstacles and brush from the engineer's office states that the office has the "responsibility and authority" under Ohio Revised Code to remove all such obstacles and brush "as is necessary in the engineer's judgment to facilitate the right of the public to safe and uninterrupted travel on county roads."

"The engineer is not required to compensate the abutting landowner for trimming or removing such trees, shrubs and other vegetation as is necessary to facilitate these rights," the policy states.