One of the trickiest jobs county commissions can face is trying to figure out what a previous commission intended many years ago when it took action that would no longer even be allowed under today’s rules.

That’s what Douglas County commissioners will be asked to do Wednesday regarding a private road that was built along Old U.S. Highway 59 west of Baldwin City back in 1998.

The county no longer authorizes the building of private roads. But from 1972 through November 1998 it did, usually when someone needed a road to cross over one parcel of property to serve a landlocked parcel that had no access to a public road.

That’s what happened in April 1998, shortly before the practice was abolished, when two property owners jointly bought a 10-acre parcel on the west side of Old U.S. Highway 59 – now known as East 1250 Road.

The owners, Lawrence Englebrake and Bradford Butell, split the parcel into east and west lots, both intending to build one home on each lot. Englebrake, who bought the landlocked parcel furthest from the road, was granted an easement to build a private road across the Butell parcel as a kind of driveway into his land from the highway.

Englebrake built a large home on his parcel, but the Butell property has remained undeveloped. Now, Butell wants to develop his property, but nobody is sure whether the private road, designated as North 411 Road, was intended to serve both properties, or just the Englebrake lot.

The question is important because county officials say there is no practical way to make second road cut onto the public road to serve the Butell property.

Englebrake and Butell are not in dispute over the issue, but they say they do need clarification from the county about how many people have a legal right to use the road, and who would be responsible for maintaining it.

Commissioners will try to straighten out that issue when they meet at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the County Courthouse.

In other business, commissioners will consider approval of a long-term system upgrade agreement and maintenance services for the county’s new Astro25 radio system with Motorola Solutions.