Lee County utilities work leaves roads in ‘a mess’

LEESBURG — A subcontractor for the Lee County Utilities Department reportedly left “a total mess” after laying new sewer lines in one of the county’s subdivisions — an action which has at least one county commissioner calling for a cleanup.

“Those roads are a total mess,” said County Commissioner Billy Mathis said at a commission meeting Tuesday. “This is a situation where a utilities subcontractor tore all the roads up while installing sewer lines.

“The contractor made an absolute mess.”

Several streets in the Lee High Acres subdivision off Walnut Street/Highway 19 have been affected.

A list provided by the county managers’ offices shows the following roads were damaged: Lee Drive from Kinchafoonee Creek Road to Pelham Drive, Pelham cul-de-sacs, Carson Court and Stuart Court cul-de-sacs, Gordon Court cul-de-sac and Beaureguard at Pelham Drive.

“All you see is patch, patch, patch,” Mathis said.

He estimated it would cost the county about $200,000 to resurface all of the roads that have damage.

The county managers’ office will put out for bids to get a better idea of how much it will cost to repair all the damage.

On Wednesday, Chris Boswell who serves as general manager for the Lee County Utilities Authority said his department is working on a resolution.

“We are in the process of getting that resolved. There was a contractor who did not complete the work,” he said.

Boswell did not provide details on how the problem will be taken care of and efforts to reach him for additional comments were unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, Lee County Co-Manager Mike Sistrunk said he is “not happy” with the situation.

“I don’t know the legalities of the situation — it is an issue with the utilities department,” Sistrunk said. “All I am doing right now is seeking proposals to from other contractors to determine the cost and scope of the work that will be required to repair all the damage.

“That is what the county commissioners have asked me to do.”