NATCHEZ — Broadmoor residents waited almost three decades to get the main roads repaved, and now all three have potholes thanks to utility companies.

District 5 Supervisor Calvin Butler said the county wants to hold the companies responsible for repairing the roads correctly if they must drill into the road surface to address leaks. Kings Circle and Country Club Drive were paved in 2015 and Broadmoor Drive in 2011.

“When (the Broadmoor Utility Company is) cutting up the road to fix the leaks, instead of putting asphalt back, they are filling it up with gravel,” Butler said. “When it rains, it makes potholes.

“Residents are complaining about damage to their tires when they hit these roads and how often it makes them have to wash their cars.”

The Adams County Board of Supervisors will also ask companies to contact the road department to get permission to cut into county roads.

“We are spending millions and millions of dollars trying to get these roads straight in the county,” Board President Mike Lazarus said. “We are not going to sit around and let them keep tearing it up without fixing it back in the right way.

“These utility companies are collecting fees from people — none of them are doing it for free. They have the money to fix these roads back.”

County Administrator Joe Murray said this issue is costing the county a little less than $10,000 a year. Murray said it is not economically feasible for the county to repave the roads, so the road department is utilizing the same process as with pothole patching.

Murray said the majority of the transgressions are in the Broadmoor subdivision, but it happens all across the county.

“When you are looking at repairing a street, that is $2,000 here and $2,000 there,” Butler said. “It sets the county behind when we are trying to get these roads up to standard for the people.”

County Attorney Scott Slover has drafted an ordinance making 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.

Lazarus said the ordinance aims to hold the companies accountable.

“I will do whatever I can to get roads in Adams County the way they need to be and keep them that way,” Lazarus said. “We are not going to keep going behind and fixing their messes.

“We are doing our best to get these roads up to standard. We can’t keep going in reverse.”

District 1 Supervisor Ricky Gray said when he was with the city the alderman had an ordinance requiring utility companies to put roads back the way they were found.

“If you overlay a road and a utility service, the water people, the gas company or whoever tears the road up, we feel like they should be responsible for putting it back like it was,” Gray said.

Gray said his only concern was the county needed to make sure it was educating the companies on the potential new law.

Slover said the county would have a public hearing on the ordinance in early November tentatively set for Nov. 7.

“Any companies who want to come voice an opinion are welcome to do so,” Butler said. “If the public has any concerns we also invite them.

“This is just to help taxpayers, residents and to hold companies liable.”