Portions of six Highlands County roads are scheduled for complete reconstruction in the new 2008-09 fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1. ...more

August 1, 2008

Construction of the segment of Sebring Parkway alongside Sebring High School will be finished before school starts on Aug. 18, Highlands County Engineer Ramon Gavarrete said Monday. ...more

July 29, 2008

When Highlands County had an opening for a clerical assistant at Emergency Medical Services recently, at $9.29 per hour, on the low end of the pay range, 63 people applied. ...more

July 10, 2008

SEBRING - When Highlands County had an opening for a clerical assistant at Emergency Medical Services recently, at $9.29 per hour, on the low end of the pay range, 63 people applied. Seventy-five people applied for one opening in the county road and bridge department for a laborer's job. The pay scale for this job starts at $8.88 per hour and runs up to a maximum of $14.38 per hour. "We have had, it seems, a big increase in the number of job applicants since I've been here," said Don Kesterson, a county human resources specialist who took his job 18 months ago following a 20-year career in the Air Force. ...more

July 9, 2008

Sunday's storm mostly brought light rainfall to the area but drenched Placid Lakes, a subdivision to the southwest of Lake Placid. ...more

June 23, 2008

AVON PARK — Highlands County Road and Bridge Department will be closing the intersection at West Taunton Road and North Graham Road from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday, June 16 for culvert repair. For more information, call 402-6529. ...more

June 14, 2008

AVON PARK — Highlands County Road and Bridge Department will be closing Thomas Road North from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. Thursday for culvert repair. For more information, contact the department at 402-6529. ...more

June 11, 2008

SEBRING — Highlands County will save $41,000 on the new traffic signal at Memorial Drive and Valerie Boulevard by having county crews do the project in-house. County commissioners approved the county's Road and Bridge Department and traffic department doing the job, with supervision by the county engineer's staff. The total project will cost $140,000, county Engineer Ramon Gavarrete told the commissioners Tuesday. That is more than $41,000 less than the cost of $181,427 to have a private contractor do the job, Gavarrete said. ...more

May 27, 2008

SEBRING — A proposed state law, introduced for the Legislature's new 2008 session, would shut down most of Highlands County's road building projects, and severely limit the cost-effectiveness of the county's new asphalt plant. That is the assessment of House Bill 683 by Ramon Gavarette, Highlands County Engineer, and Ross Macbeth, attorney for the Highlands County commissioners. The county asphalt plant, which is scheduled to start production this spring, would be the first asphalt plant owned and operated by a local government in Florida. Commissioners have borrowed $3.3 million to build the plant, based on Ken Wheeler, director of the county solid waste department, estimating it will save $700,000 per year on road work. House Bill 683 apparently was pushed by the Asphalt Contractors Association of Florida, which tried unsuccessfully to talk the county commissioners out of building the first county-owned asphalt plant in the state. ...more

January 26, 2008

SEBRING –– There is both good and disappointing news regarding the condition of the 1,200 miles of roads maintained by Highlands County. First, the good news. The county will resurface 25 miles of roadways, eight more than last year, in the new fiscal year, which began Oct. 1. The disappointing news: At least 30 miles, and preferably 40 miles, should be resurfaced each year to keep the county road system in top shape, according to Brian Miller, the county's road construction inspector. There is also hope for expanding county road maintenance in future years, if Ken Wheeler's optimism about the county's asphalt plant bears out. In May, Highlands County is scheduled to open the state's first government owned asphalt plant at the county landfill. Wheeler, the county's director of solid waste, has predicted a cost of $69 per ton for paving with asphalt from that plant, $13 per ton less than the county's current contract price of $82 per ton. ...more

October 29, 2007