Winchester looking to draw up ordinance concerning right of ways

By Editor | August 13, 2025 |

By Carmen Ensinger

A new fiber optic company wanting to come into Winchester has prompted the city to look into drawing up an ordinance which would charge the company for the use of the city’s right of ways.

“Waverly wrote up an ordinance which they hope will slow down all these companies wanting to come in,” Utility Superintendent John Simmons said. “It can also be a way for the city to make some money from the utilities that want to use our right of ways.”

Simmons said that when REA put in fiber optic in 2017, it was a nightmare for the city.

“We let them use our right of ways for free and it made our jobs 10 times harder,” he said. “They overwhelmed us by calling in up to 60 locates a day. We just couldn’t keep up with them.”

While Simmons said the city can’t prevent a utility from coming into town, they can at least profit from it.

Waverly’s ordinance forces utilities to purchase a permit to use the right of ways.

“The superintendent over at Waverly came up with the idea of having the utility companies have to pay for a permit before they can go into each section of town,” Simmons said. “I recommend our city attorney to study this and come up with a plan and ordinance to control this and maybe make some money off it for the city.”

Simmons had some questions about trees he would like to take out which are on the city’s property.

“We have a tree, that isn’t dead, but it is our right of way, and the roots are causing a lot of trouble with the sewer,” he said. “It caused the sewer to back up in a couple of nearby houses and the owners want the tree taken out.”

Simmons said the tree sits right on top of the sewer main and roots have gotten into the pipe. He got a bid from Danny Powell for $800 to remove the tree and the stump.

“It is cheaper to take the tree out than it would be to have someone come and jet it out,” Simmons said. “That could cost us up to $2,000.”

There is another tree that is at the intersection of Spring Street that is blocking the view for motorists pulling out onto the highway.

“I also have another tree that is borderline on our right of way, but it blocks the view when people pull out on Rt. 106,” Simmons said. “When you pull out of Spring Street, you have to ease out to see around the tree and you are on the highway before you realize it.”

Simmons said he wanted to get a bid to take out that tree as well. The council approved the removal of the first tree for $800, but asked that Simmons get a bid for removal before approving the second tree.

Simmons also requested to purchase new barricades for the city.

“Ours are in critical condition with tape holding them together because they are all rotted out,” he said. “I got a quote on some plastic barricades, which will hold up better than the wooden ones for $1,100 for six of them.”

The barricades are 10 feet long and Simmons said no one will be able to borrow these new ones.

“We have provided barricades for every contractor that has come into town,” he said. “Everyone comes up and get barricades from us and that won’t happen with these. They can provide their own barricades.”

Simmons said while trying to make a tap for the new gas station, they ran into a problem.

“The pipe we were going to make the tap on is so bad we can’t do it,” he said. “We cut a section of the pipe out and then tried to tap it and when we came to work the next day, the hole was full of water because it had a leak.”

Simmons said the pipe had a five inch crack in it and while they tried to clamp it, he thinks if they try to tap it again it will do the same thing. Within a four foot area, they had to place two big clamps so they ended up just stopping to try to tap it.

“What I’m going to have to do is some kind of emergency repair,” he said. “Eventually we are going to have to replace the main from the Square to Cherry St. to North Main because I think it will leak all the time.”

The problem is this section is the original cast iron pipe from 1914.

“The problem is I can’t shut it down completely because of a back feed line,” Simmons said. “What I would like to do is do a repair and replace several feet now and put a valve in by the three-way so we will be able to shut it off without shutting everyone off.”

Simmons said there was one positive to note.

“We had all that extra money left over from the grant so I bought a bunch of valves, fire hydrants and pipe,” he said. “So, we have most of the material to do the work, just not the equipment.”

City Clerk Teri Little said some of the employees had inquired about having their checks deposited via direct deposit. Currently, each employee is cut a physical check which they must then deposit into the bank.

Alderman Bill Jacquot said this issue had come up before and the problem was not all want direct deposit.

“I think if we do this, we make it all or nothing,” he said. “All employees checks will be deposited using direct deposit or none of them will get it.”

Alderwoman Terry Gregory saw where this could be a problem.

“The problem with making it mandatory for everyone is that some people might not have a bank account,” she said.

Some communities get around this problem by charging a fee to mail a physical check. Little said the city can charge their employees a fee if they don’t use direct deposit.”

Mayor Rex McIntire suggested they just leave it the way it is.

Police Chief Steve Doolin said that he has been having problems with the police vehicles.

“We had two flat tires on the truck within two weeks or less,” he said. “One was a razor blade and it ruined the tire.”

Doolin said this event happened within five minutes of the start of the shift.

“Someone put that razor blade behind that tire so when the officer backed up he went over it,” he said. “Because of this, I went out and purchased some cameras to put up so at least we can perhaps find out who is doing it.”

Doolin said he paid $240 for eight cameras so they can also equip the other building.

“Then, the Tahoe got hit by a deer as I was coming into work at around 4:30 in the morning,” Doolin said. “I was on the Glasgow Blacktop and they had piles of sand stacked to work on the road and it came from behind one of them.”

Doolin said there was $3,600 worth of damage done to the bumper, grill and headlights, but that the vehicle was still operational.