A Warren County farm couple are suing over allegations that roadwork done by the county has damaged their property and is causing their field to flood.In a lawsuit filed at the Warren County Circuit Court May 17, Thomas and Donna Bueneman accuse the county of cutting their trees and fences while doing roadwork on Godt Road, a gravel road that runs through their property north of Wright City.They claim that culverts and drainage ways installed along the road have allowed water runoff to flood the field where they grow crops.The lawsuit asserts that the county has no legal authority over the portion of the gravel road that runs through the Buenemans’ property.“Without any deed and without paying any compensation, (Warren County) claims some sort of ownership or easement interest in a portion of Bueneman Farm,” the lawsuit states, denying that the county has any such stake on that portion of the road.The Buenemans’ attorney, Robert Schultz, argues the county’s actions amount to unconstitutionally taking and damaging his clients’ property without any compensation. He said the Buenemans previously had a verbal agreement with county commissioners about how the road would be handled, but that the county did not follow through.The Buenemans are seeking an unspecified amount of money for damages and legal fees.Warren County commissioners said that the county has been maintaining Godt Road for decades, and that it is a public road used by several different families to access their properties. Northern District Commissioner Dan Hampson said the county had installed new culverts to prevent water from running across the top of the road and washing out the gravel.Southern District Commissioner Hubie Kluesner acknowledged that the county did cut trees along the road, which he said were overgrown. He also said that in a previous negotiation, the Buenemans had asked for a stipulation that would have prevented at least one other landowner from accessing his property, which Kluesner said is why the county never finalized a deal.Central to the dispute over the road, and likely a deciding factor in court, is whether the county can show that Godt Road is a public road legally maintained by the government.That’s trickier than it sounds, because the gravel path known as Godt Road appears to predate the practice of securing government deeds for roads. County officials said those kinds of deeds have only become common here in the last 20 or 30 years, but the Buenemans have owned their land for longer than that.Road Department Supervisor Gary Ruether said Warren County crews have maintained Godt Road for at least 40 years, as long as he has been with the department.To back up the county’s case, officials could also find historical documents that acknowledged the existence of a county road when the surrounding land was purchased. That means examining records stored in the archive of the Warren County Recorder of Deeds’ office.One deed from 1973, a copy of which was acquired by The Record, describes an exchange of land from the Niemann family to the Bueneman family.In it, a portion of the property’s boundary is described as being along the centerline of an unnamed county road. A 1908 county survey map displayed at the Warren County Assessor’s office identifies a public road in the area of present-day Godt Road.The historical road traveled along the boundary of land owned by a person identified as Aug. Godt.Lawsuit