A Rincon public works team was busy early Thursday afternoon making temporary repairs to a group of potholes that have plagued drivers on Towne Park East since the summer.

As the crew worked, several cars honked or slowed to say thanks to the team.

The issue came up at an Aug. 24 city council meeting, and city officials said then that they would determine the property owners of the street and send a letter asking that repairs be made. The process calls for a total of three letters to be sent to the owners, each followed by a 10-day period for response. After three letters, the owners can be taken to court.

Rincon City Manager Michael Phillips said earlier that council wanted the citizens to understand that the city is not trying to avoid fixing that road but that it couldn’t legally do so. He added that the road is private, built by the developer, and was not built to acceptable city standards.

Because of that, it was never deeded over to the city for maintenance and upkeep. Phillips said if the developer brought the road up to city specifications, it could then be deeded to the city for on-going maintenance.

Phillips said Thursday that the city made the decision to go ahead and make the temporary repairs, “for the safety of the general public and our emergency vehicles and our water meter readers and other response groups.”

Similar potholes on the street connecting to Towne Park Drive were repaired by a different owner about two weeks ago.