Big jobs require big equipment.
On February 14, 2012 the county board gave County Engineer David Betts and Maintenance Supervisor Russell Klegstad the go-ahead to purchase a new front end loader at a cost of $164,574 and two dump trucks with snow removal equipment at a total cost of $470,013. Extended warranties will be purchased for each.
The front end loader will replace one that is 37 years old and the dump trucks will replace ones that are 12 and 13 years old.
These purchases are $32,013 over budget, but Maintenance Supervisor Klegstad and Engineer Betts assured the board that the extra expense would be offset by lower spending in other budget categories for 2012. All three purchases are on the county’s five-year capital replacement schedule and were approved at last summer’s budget hearings.
Commissioner Bruce Martinson said the board had been told several years ago that bringing an assistant mechanic on board full-time would allow the department to prolong the life of their equipment. Klegstad said the department is still behind on maintenance even with this position in place. They just brought a loader in from Hovland the day before, he said, that had been due for maintenance in September.
Commissioner Martinson said he didn’t believe equipment should be replaced just because it’s on the schedule. They should also consider things like mileage or hours in use. Martinson said that he heard “loud and clear” when he was campaigning that his constituents believe the county should keep its equipment longer than it does.
Klegstad reminded the board that the capital replacement schedule had been made so they could spread out purchases into manageable pieces. He doesn’t just sit at his desk and decide they need new equipment, he said. He gets out and evaluates the condition of the equipment, including its safety. “I don’t go just by schedule. There are so many things that play into it. That’s my job,” he said.
Klegstad said the department documents repairs and has found unequivocally that maintenance needs escalate greatly after nine years. Their trucks are being used constantly, he said. “You still have to pay the piper. Pay me now or pay me later.”
Engineer Betts said they tweak their five-year replacement schedule all the time and he and Klegstad spent a lot of late nights looking at the latest purchase requests.
In other county news:
. Soil & Water appointments The board approved a recommendation from the Soil & Water Conservation District to appoint Gary Maciejewski for a second term and Don Lease for a first term on the Water Advisory Committee.
. Bed and breakfast permit A conditional use permit was granted to Kimberly and Lorman Jahnke of Tofte for a bed and breakfast business at their home. The board honored a request from several neighbors by requiring some outside lighting to be shaded so that light does not spill onto nearby properties.
. EMS building for snowmobile club The board passed a motion supporting a request by the Lutsen Trailbreakers Snowmobile Club to move the current Emergency Medical Services (EMS) building in Lutsen to a 4.6-acre county-owned site adjacent to the Caribou Trail, a snowmobile trail that connects to numerous others. The township has given the building to the club. The board gave the club permission to pursue the creation of a 49-year lease agreement with the county and to name the county as a fiscal agent for a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources grant that would pay for relocating and remodeling the building.
A memo from the club states that the site was formerly a county dump and is now being plowed by the county for use as a parking lot for snowmobilers.
. Courthouse safety The board voted to send a letter supporting a bill being introduced by Minnesota senators Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar and Arkansas senator John Boozman that would make it easier for local courts to access equipment, training, and funding to improve safety at courthouses.
. Railroad records search The board approved an expenditure of $1,000 from the Recorder’s Office for County Surveyor Wayne Hensche to track down Duluth, Missabe, and Iron Range (DMIR) Railway records relating to lands in Cook County.
Hensche was previously paid $1,500 to search the company’s records in Proctor but found out that they had become scattered between Proctor and Two Harbors due to DMIR downsizing.
After that, according to Cook County Recorder Dusty Nelms, “Wayne…discovered there is additional railroad information out there…which would be a benefit to have copies of in our office. It would be additional information relating to government corners to help the surveyors in making their determinations in finding property lines. …This information is vital to surveying lands correctly in Cook County as surveyors need a complete record of corner evidence."
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