Mathews supervisors came down hard on Virginia Department of Transportation assistant residency administrator Joyce McGowan during last week’s board meeting.

Supervisor Neena Putt told McGowan during the Jan. 22 meeting that standing water continues to be a problem in Diggs near Ocean Products. Although VDOT dug out ditches in the area, Putt said, the ditches are deeper than the culverts, causing water to pool in the yards.

"What we’re doing is not working," she said.

McGowan said she wasn’t aware of the situation and asked Putt to e-mail her the location so she could include it on a list of items to check.

Putt told McGowan that the main problem in Mathews County is the ditching, and that the board has done everything it could to deal with the problem. She said board members hear from concerned residents and pass along those concerns along to VDOT, but that "we’re not paid to do VDOT’s job."

McGowan said VDOT is trying to do the ditching with...