NATCHEZ — If a utility company digs into an Adams County road, the crew is required to repair the road fully or face misdemeanor charges.

The Adams County Board of Supervisors had a public hearing Monday on a new right-of-way ordinance requiring anyone that cuts into a road first try boring to reach pipes and cables.

Adams County Board of Supervisors Attorney Scott Slover said the ordinance makes it a misdemeanor crime for companies to cut into a road and not bring it back up to standard. The fine can be up to a maximum of $1,000.

If a company cuts into a road, it has seven days to fix it before the county can prosecute.

Supervisor Ricky Gray said before a road crew can apply asphalt, the hole first has to be filled with gravel, which has to be given time to settle. Slover said in such cases, he would consider the company in the process of fixing the road and would not act.

Companies are also required to contact the county road department before cutting.

The ordinance passed unanimously, but Gray said he had an issue with the county waiting until after executive session, when the Bruce Video crew had left, to go into the public hearing — with no one present — and pass the ordinance.

“The problem I have is we didn’t handle this when the TV crew was here where people can actually know what we are doing,” Gray said.

Slover said it was his fault for failing to bring it up before executive session.

The county, on average, spends a little less than $10,000 fixing roads cut into by utility companies yearly, County Administrator Joe Murray said previously.

In other news:

• Adams County Fire Coordinator Darryl Smith said the Liberty Road Volunteer Fire Station has added five new volunteers.
• Due to inability to obtain rights-of-way, Liberty Heights and Oak Ridge roads have been removed from the county’s Emergency Watershed Protection project. Lincoln Heights Road was part of a six-location $703,296 project. Oak Ridge Road received three bids in October and the bids were taken under advisement.