County Commission Chairman Wiley Kitchens responded to what he called “election-time criticisms” of his administration Friday.

In an interview, Kitchens, who is not up for re-election this year, said criticisms directed at the county’s road system were unfair, and the situation is much better than it appears “in the paper.”

He claimed that when he took office, the road system was $2.7 million in debt. By paying more than $800,000 a year, he said, the debt has been paid off now — a huge accomplishment by his estimation.

As to the county’s road maintenance program, he admitted that high fuel and building material costs had slowed the Road Department, but said the maintenance system is “definitely still operating.”

Kitchens preached fiscal responsibility, saying “We just will not spend money we don’t have.”

Despite his confidence, the Commission has been plagued with residents who want their roads paved.

Kitchens said some of those projects cannot be started until right-of-way issues are cleared through property owners.

Touching on the much debated water source argument, Kitchens clarified he did not have a problem with the Duck River Dam project, but environmental groups will never allow the river to be dammed. In addition, he said pulling water out of Smith Lake will be expensive and unreliable.

“If the water level gets too low, Alabama power will say ‘no more,'” he said. “We have to have a source of water, so that won’t work.”

Kitchens said he and other local politicians have been fighting to keep the Tennessee River as an option for a future water source, but no decision has been made. A recent bill in the state House moved to block Cullman County from the Tennessee River. An amendment was made to allow Cullman County to pull water in the future.

According to most official estimates, Cullman will exceed the capacity of Lake Catoma, its current water source, within the next 20 years, making it a top issue this election season.

Kitchens also defended his stance on a new pay scale for county employees.

That matter has become a top issue this election, since the current commission voted to remove the old pay-scale structure last year.

Since then, the commission has not been able to institute a new system, which will reportedly do away with individual raises, favoring annual cost-of-living raises.

“I would say not having a pay scale in place has not affected many employees as some have said,” Kitchens said.

“If it has, it’s very, very few.”