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Houck siding to complete covered bridge work for year
Long a covered bridge, Houck Bridge currently finds itself ... well ... naked.
Crews spent Wednesday removing the siding from the 144-year-old structure in northeastern Washington Township in preparation for a project that will keep the boards more securely affixed to the bridge.
The work, expected to take about two weeks, will bring to a conclusion a series of construction projects to give a facelift to three of the nine Putnam County covered bridges in 2024.
The unfortunate fact, as observers of local government or historic structures will note, is Houck was rehabilitated and bypassed just 10 years ago.
For most of that decade, though, Putnam County Highway crews have struggled to keep siding on the bridge. While some of this has been due to vandals, the much more common problem has been high winds.
An examination of the bridge by structural engineers revealed that not enough purlins were installed to hold the siding in place and that the fasteners to the purlins were not long enough.
Energy Conservation Solutions of Greencastle is overseeing the project to install more purlins and then paint and install or reinstall all of the siding.
It marks the third straight project undertaken by an Amish construction crew overseen by Energy Conservation Solutions.
The first two projects involved replacing the roofs of Edna Collings Bridge in Clinton Township and Rolling Stone Bridge in Floyd Township. Each of those structures had suffered timber rot due to the leaky roofs. Earlier this year, Putnam County Highway crews reinforced the affected wood with steel plates.
Work on Edna Collings was completed several weeks ago, with County Highway Director Clint Maddox telling the Putnam County Commissioners Monday that Rolling Stone would be completed that day.
Giving the highway report during the first commissioners meeting of October, Maddox also noted that Bridge 109 over Little Walnut Creek on West Walnut Street will receive an overlay of asphalt before cold weather hits. The county had previously applied for federal funding to rehabilitate the bridge, but that request was denied.
“This is a cheap way of doing it, and this will extend the life of it considerably,” Maddox said.
While the paving season is largely done for the county, Maddox also noted that his department is awaiting a response from the City of Greencastle regarding a cost-share agreement to repave Keightly Road, which is in the city but receives most of its traffic for the Putnam County Jail.
The plan has been for the city to pay for the material and the county to provide the labor and equipment. Maddox said the estimate of $55,000-$60,000 was sent to the city in early September, but no word has come back yet.
“We have yet to hear anything back from them,” Maddox said.
In one last piece of highway department business, the commissioners approved a $23,934.79 expenditure to have H&S Hicks & Sons of Cloverdale replace the flooring in the highway office with carpet squares.
The commissioners were happy with the amount, having budgeted $50,000 for the job.
In other business, the commissioners:
• Approved the purchase of the two new mowers for the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department mowing crew at a total cost of $15,890 with a $7,000 total trade-in value of two eight-year-old Exmark mowers.
The new mowers will be 30 horsepower Kawasaki mowers with 60-inch decks from Humphreys’ Outdoor Power.
The inmate trustees of the Putnam County Jail, overseen by Brad Alspaugh, use the mowers to not only maintain the lawn at the jail but also around covered bridges, Irwin Bridge and the Putnam County Emergency Operations Center.
Sheriff Jerrod Baugh noted that one of the mowers can be purchased through his office’s commissary fund but asked that the commissioners find a way to fund the other.
While that decision will ultimately fall to the Putnam County Council, the commissioners sent the matter to the council with a recommendation that it come from the county rainy day fund.
Grateful for the support, Baugh noted the need for the new equipment.
“Brad Alspaugh is the kind of person who gets things done, and if he asks for something, he doesn’t want it, he needs it,” Baugh said.
“And I’d add that his crew does a really good job at the covered bridges,” Maddox said.
• Also approved the purchase of a new snow plow for Alspaugh’s truck. The new plow will come from JTN Services at a cost of $7,845. Baugh was not asking for funding, which he already had in his budget.
The equipment is coming at a discount with the trade-in of a 2008 Ford F-350 for $3,000, a truck that Baugh said is about to have its bed rust off.
• Approved hiring Lawson and Co. and Freije & Freije to perform appraisals on the old Feld’s Carpet One building on Bloomington Street.
The county is interested in purchasing the property as a new home for the Putnam County Health Department.
Commissioners David Berry, Rick Woodall and Tom Helmer were joined for the meeting by Deputy Auditor Evelyn Williams and County Attorney Jim Ensley. The next meeting of the Putnam County Commissioners is set for 9 a.m. Monday, Oct. 21 on the first floor of the Putnam County Courthouse.