County help depends on many factors
Managing editor
There’s a risk when the county helps one community — other communities want a piece of that action.
There’s nothing wrong with that, commissioner Dan Holub said, as long as the county is in the position to help.
Such was the case a few years ago when the county resurfaced some streets in Peabody, charging the city only for the cost of materials.
There was some fallout from that, Holub said. Other cities lined up for assistance.
Now that Florence is receiving the same assistance with a few blocks, Holub is anticipating the same reaction from other city leaders.
Holub said it’s not that the county doesn’t want to help those who ask, it has to work out on the county’s side.
“The county has leftover materials,” he said. “The machines are out, crews are together.”
All of the necessary factors are lined up for this particular project to work.
The commission approved resurfacing Florence streets at the Aug. 31 meeting per the request of Florence City Council.
The county will use $7,600 in chip and seal materials, for which the city will pay — the same arrangement the county had with Peabody.
“Sometimes we have to say ‘no’,” Holub said. “This time it worked out where we do this.
“We want to help as we can but we also have to be smart in how we do this.”