Adjusting to new roles can be difficult, but Lincoln County’s newest supervisors seem to be adapting quickly.

     Three supervisors, District Four’s Eddie Brown, District Two’s Jimmy Diamond and District Five’s Dudley Nations, took office in January after winning their respective posts in elections in 2011.

     All three said their new jobs are going well and they’re staying busy.

     “We’ve gotten a lot done since the first of the year,” said Nations. “I can’t say enough about the guys on the road and how hard they work trying to meet the needs of the people.”

     Nations said there have been a lot of needs he’s met and some he hasn’t, but he’s working to meet those.

     Brown is in a unique situation, as he served as supervisor from 1988 to 1992 before being voted back into office in 2011.

     “We’ve tried to make some positive changes with our grass cutting,” he said. “It has worked out well as we’ve used a 15 foot batwing bush hog on our State Aid roads. It’s allowed us to mow more quickly and we’ve cut most of the roads twice this year.”

     Brown and Nations agreed that money has been tight this year and the lack of Local System Bridge Program funding has hurt them.

     “The lack of LSBP funding has me tied up on bridges currently,” said Brown. “We’re doing what we can, but we’re tied up.”

     Nations expressed similar comments.

     “Continued maintenance is important, but the failure to fund LSBP was definitely a setback,” said Nations.

     Diamond said he hasn’t had a shortage of work since taking office.

     “I’ve just been staying busy patching roads, cutting grass and spreading gravel,” he said. “We stay busy.”

     Brown said the biggest difference from when he was first in office and now is money.

     “The money for State Aid is less than it was when I was first in office,” he said. “We’re not seeing as much resealing as we did in the past due to a lack of funding.

     “It seems the money is the same as it was in 1988, because while the fund is larger, the cost of things has increased as well,” he continued. “Things are three and four times more expensive than they were then.”

     Brown added proper management of money and resources is key to running a sound department.

     Nations and Brown were both thankful for the help they’ve received from the Lincoln County/Brookhaven Government Complex.

     “(County Administrator) David Fields has been great at helping us out and keeping up with finances,” said Brown. “Ryan Holmes (of Dungan Engineering) has been a great help to us as an engineer.”

     Nations mentioned the help the new supervisors from Chancery Clerk Tillmon Bishop the entire staff at the government complex.

     Supervisors already have plans for the future. They said there is always plenty of work to do.

     “We are getting ready to blacktop some gravel roads,” Brown said. “Roads that have never been paved before. This will affect about 30 houses.”

     Nations is also looking toward road improvements.

     “If funding allows, I hope next summer we can do some resealing work on roads, but we’re not sure where that would be yet,” said Nations.”