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The issue of mowing DOT-owned roads for the town of Norwood received a temporary solution for one road at Monday’s town council meeting.

By a vote of 3-2, with council members Betty Harrison and Wes Hartsell voting against the motion, the council voted to mow Anchor Road for the remainder of the growing season this year. The motion also contained language which will allow Norwood to reexamine the issue next year.

Councilman Robbie Cohen said the motion, which he made, was “kind of a Band-Aid,” adding the problem would not have gotten where it is now. Cohen said if the town mows Anchor Road, the council better hope residents on other DOT-owned roads do not come before the council to ask for the same consideration.

Harrison said the town used to come into her neighborhood and cut the grass, which was at first a DOT road but is now in the city limits. She added in response to citizens asking her about their grass getting cut, she quoted President John F. Kennedy.

“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,” Harrison said.

Hartsell said he backs the town’s cost-cutting measures 100 percent, adding the council “can’t bow to every request that comes across the council’s desk.”

Mayor Harold Thompson said the DOT would only pay the town to mow the number of times the state agency deemed necessary, and the money raised would not even pay for the gas for the tractor, let alone time paid to staff members. He said if the town were to mow all the DOT roads, a tax increase would have to be enacted to pay for it.

Tax money, he said, can’t be used for projects like water and sewer plant operations, which have to support themselves.

Town Manager Scott Howard said depending on the DOT’s budget, they might only pay for three mowings and the town would end up having to mow multiple times just so the area would not look terrible.