A section of Brown Road has been reduced to one lane for months due to damage residents suspect is caused by Rex Energy trucks.

CENTER TWP — A sunken section of Brown Road looks unlikely to see repairs quickly, as township officials and an energy company debate who should foot the bill.

Township office staff confirmed that a bond for the road remains outstanding. The bond covers the entirety of Brown Road and totals $16,250.

Brown Road is two lanes and a little more than one mile long. The section in question is a sunken, cracked patch in a curving section of the road. It is surrounded by orange traffic cones, limiting traffic for a small stretch to one lane of traffic. Temporary stop signs are in place on either side. Residents of the road, like Ron Day, say it's been that way most of the year.

At a township board of supervisors meeting earlier in August, the township's solicitor, Mike Gallagher, suggested the board enter executive session to discuss road repairs on Brown Road. The board agreed.

In a phone interview Tuesday Gallagher offered some clarity as to what was discussed behind closed doors: releasing the township's bond to Stonehenge Appalachia, an energy company that partnered with Rex Energy to build natural gas drilling sites in Butler County. The township and the company were still investigating and negotiating matters related to the bond, Gallagher said.

Ron Flatt, the board's chairman, clarified in an interview Wednesday that their disagreement had to do with payment for repairs on Brown Road.

Day points to Rex Energy trucks as the cause of the road problem. Both Day's home and the damaged section of road are farther south than Stonehenge's signs direct Rex Energy to travel.

And yet, Day said, he sees 18-wheeled Rex Energy vehicles rolling by his house, apparently shortcutting the route.

Read the full story in Friday's Butler Eagle.