Residents say they were not informed and were not given the chance to voice their opinions on the project.The battle between the Putnam County Commissioners and the residents of Road 5 continues. A hearing was held at the Putnam County courthouse dealing with the eminent domain compensation for the properties which the county wants to widen. A motion to dismiss was asked for as lawyers representing a group of Road 5 residents contend that the right set of actions were not taken to even get to the eminent domain process. Residents say they were not informed and were not given the chance to voice their opinions on the project.
Daniel T. Ellis with Lydy and Moan Attorneys said "what the county commissioners are attempting to do is say all we need to do is file a petition under the appropriations statute and basically side step all that."
Those representing the county commissioners refute that. Putnam County Prosecutor, Gary Lammers, said "it's the County's position at this point that we believe they have followed the process correctly and as a matter of law and are acting in accordance with the revised code."
The commissioners vote was a 2-to-1 vote with commissioner Travis Jerwers voting not to move ahead with the project, this is another sticking point of the project moving forward. Pandora resident, Paul Burkholder, said "Ohio law clearly states that it has to be unanimous resolution by county commissioners to seize land by eminent domain."
Linde Webb with Lydy and Moan Attorneys said "if they don't like the idea of eminent domain or a project they can reverse it. It's your constitutional right to have a referendum."
"They're still trying to do it their way which isn't the right way. They're wasting a lot of the tax payers money on the whole deal basically they're going outside the law. They're trying to keep this under cover and shove this down our throats." said Road 5 resident Bill Weis. The commissioners contend that it is progress and comes down to the big picture for the surrounding area. "Our main concern is to provide safe travels to the citizens of the county. We want to make the roads safer for everybody." said Lammers.
Judge Randall Basinger will take the series of motion to dismiss under advisement and will have a ruling on this part of the battle for road five in fourteen days.
