NATCHEZ — After hearing of and watching weeks of discussions about problems at the Robins Lake Road dam, a concerned citizen attended Monday’s board meeting to suggest some solutions.

Dale Polk said after ownership of the dam is established, the simplest, cheapest and most stable method of repairing it would be to insert 10-foot spillways on either end of the dam and possibly build up the middle of the dam.

Polk, an Adams County resident who does not live on Robins Lake Road, has worked with roads and transportation. He said he wondered why nobody had offered ideas about solutions to fix the dam yet, so he appeared to offer his ideas.

Polk said the dam walls are well supported underneath the water from decades of built-up silt.

Polk said he saw the dam break in 1974 and again in the early 80s. He said the dam has had patchwork repairs for decades, which does not correct any problems.

He also said starting from scratch would be unnecessary and expensive.

“Tearing the levee down is a bad idea.”

Supevisor 5 S.E. “Spanky” Felter said he agreed with Polk.

“I think it will save the county money if instead of digging (the dam) up, we add spillways,” Felter said.

Polk said he appeared at the meeting to offer a suggestion because as a taxpayer, he believed the road was partially his to care about and help with — and because his experience made him qualified to offer insight.

The board thanked Polk for his input.

Board attorney Bobby Cox said he is still researching who owns the dam on Robins Lake Road.

The county may or may not own the whole dam or just the asphalt on top. Cox said finding the owner is difficult because the records do not contain specific descriptions of the land.

In other business:

District 1 Supervisor Mike Lazarus made a motion to make Petal Lane a county road.

Lazarus discovered Petal Lane was not a county road when he sought to have it paved. He said residents who live there that he spoke to about it were surprised to hear it was not a county road as well.

Road Manager Clarence “Curley” Jones and County Engineer Jim Marlow were also surprised to learn Petal Lane was not on the county registry. Jones said the county has been maintaining Petal Lane for 30 or 35 years.

Marlow said because it was an oversight that Petal Lane is not on the registry, the board could add it to the registry without petitions being filed and meeting subdivision requirements.

The supervisors voted unanimously to add Petal Lane to the county road registry.

Jones said asphalt overlay construction began Monday in the county.

District 2 Supervisors Henry Watts made a motion to direct Cox to research the process for adding more gravel roads to the county registry in order to perform roadwork on them.

Jones, the road manager, told the board a county maintenance shed was broken into over the weekend and all of its contents stolen. He did not know the value of all that was stolen, but he said a power saw and weed trimmers and other items were stolen. Jones said he filed a report Monday with the Adams County Sheriff’s Office.

Jones also reported a road department employee was fired for testing positive for drugs for the second time. While Jones did not list a name, he spoke about why the employee was fired at the urging of Supervisor Henry Watts, who said the discussion was suitable for open meetings with the exception of names.

Susan Burgess spoke at the meeting about three abandoned trailers on Lost Creek Road near her home. She asked if the supervisors could help clean the properties up or make the owners clean them up.

Cox said a legal statute allows the supervisors to send a letter asking the owners to clean up, and if they fail to — the county will do the work and charge the cost to the owner’s taxes.

Oscar Seyfarth spoke at the board meeting about the Wreaths Across America program.

Wreaths Across America is a non-profit organization that coordinates the placement of wreaths at all national cemeteries on the second Saturday in December each year. This year the ceremony is at noon on Dec. 11 and will last approximately 45 minutes.

Seyfarth said wreaths are $15 individually.

Seyfarth said anyone interested in helping or donating to the cause should call his cell phone at 601-807-1576.

Grennell agreed to speak at the event, which Seyfarth requested.