Keeping roads in good order so residents can get where they need to go and tourists can explore the area is a big job for the Cook County Highway Department. And it requires big money. The county board spent the afternoon of April 24, 2012 discussing upcoming capital needs and other issues with Highway Engineer David Betts and Maintenance Supervisor Russell Klegstad.
Betts and Klegstad presented an equipment replacement schedule for plows, pickups, graders, dump trucks, steamers, and front-end loaders through the year 2023. A chart of annual maintenance costs for vehicles as old as 16 years shows that parts, labor, and towing costs sometimes come close to or even exceed the purchase price. Costs often jump significantly around the ninth year of use.
The department does not simply replace a piece of equipment because it is on schedule to be replaced. Klegstad said they look at keeping some older units and replacing some newer ones if the newer ones have a lot more mileage and use. They also try to put off purchases for a year or two, he said, although having a schedule helps the county spend replacement dollars on a steadier basis.
In the last couple of years, the county has needed to invest in a lot of equipment that had not been replaced in a timely way. “We’re playing catch-up,” said Commissioner Fritz Sobanja.
The replacement schedule proposed by Betts and Klegstad has annual expenditures that range from $511,500 to $645,249. The department is working on building up a capital replacement fund. Building needs
Highway Department buildings are in dire need of replacement, according to Engineer Betts. The main building is rusting at its foundation and doesn’t provide nearly enough working space. Contractors come in for pre-construction meetings and have to sit on countertops. The meetings cannot easily be held elsewhere because they refer to documents and computer programs that are housed at the Highway Department. “Pure and simple, we need at least twice the space we have in the office right now,” Betts said
The shops in Hovland and Tofte are “falling down around them,” said Betts. The sewer gas at Hovland is “overwhelming” and “the ceiling is hanging,” he said. “There’s no clean space to have computers at either of the buildings. …They are actually going to fall down if we don’t do something.”
The department is not able to store salt properly, and much of its equipment sits outside where it is vulnerable to the elements. The Goble building has so much moisture in it that the employee break table gets wet, Betts said. The fuel stations need to be replaced. Employees are getting sprayed with fuel when they fill up their trucks.
“How much good money do you throw after bad?” said Klegstad. He said making day-to-day plans is difficult without knowing what the long-term plan is.
Betts said fixing all three sites would cost over $6 million. “I’ve been told it’s not the right time, but I question when is the right time.” He said he has some funding ideas that include using some of their state aid. The group discussed the possibility of bonding to fund the improvements. Sign damage
To maintain public safety, the Highway Department has been loaning signs for special events such as running, biking, and dog sled races. Race officials and volunteers do not have the proper equipment for transporting signs (vertically and without jostling each other), and they often show damage when they are returned. “They come back pretty beat up,” Klegstad said.
Federal law is requiring the county to replace its signs with more reflective ones that are also more expensive. Klegstad wondered if the department should keep an inventory of its old signs that it could rent out. If they are not the new, highly reflective signs, however, and an accident occurs, who would be held liable? he wondered. “I’m kind of ambivalent about it,” he said. “I don’t want them to use our new signs.”
Klegstad agreed to consult with Minnesota Counties Intergovernmental Trust, the county’s “joint risk-sharing entity,” on how to deal with this issue. Security
Engineer Betts said he would be willing to use some of his funds for a security assessment of Highway Department facilities. Maintenance Director Klegstad supported this. “We have had incidents at the Highway Department that have been pretty serious,” he said, with citizens confronting employees.
After one incident, Klegstad said, the citizen committed himself to a psychiatric facility where he admitted he had been thinking of shooting highway department personnel. Private snowplow hazards
Klegstad reported that some private snowplow contractors plow snow into county roads, leaving huge mounds that cause serious dangers to drivers. He sometimes calls the Law Enforcement Center to report these incidents and has discussed the issue with Sheriff Mark Falk. “I’ve asked Mark to just give me a badge and a gun and deputize me,” Klegstad said, “but he won’t do it!”
Trading bigger for better
At the regular county board meeting earlier, the board authorized the Highway Department to trade a 2008 backhoe/loader for a 2011 model because the one they have is too large and cumbersome.
Klegstad stated that the 2008 specs from Ziegler, the company they purchased the first model from and would be trading with, were “not very well done.” A new warranty and accessory equipment for the new model will cost the county just over $17,000, but they will have a new piece of equipment in place of one that was three years older. “I think we’re crazy to not take advantage of what they’re offering,” he said.
Klegstad said buying premium warranties has been really cost-effective. The cost of this transaction will be offset by savings from other budgeted capital purchases.
Trail planning
During an earlier discussion about new mountain bike trails within the county, Klegstad suggested that the board create a task force to work on a coordinated plan for all trails within the county. It could include various user group representatives as well as U.S. Forest Service and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) personnel.
During the work session, Klegstad talked about former township roads that are now in the county’s hands but are not being maintained. Some are being used as trails. He suggested that a trail task force could help county commissioners gather information and ideas that would help them make more intentional decisions about what to do with those old roads.
With the board’s consent, Klegstad and Commissioner Fritz Sobanja agreed to work on assembling that task force.
In other county news:
No comments from the public were expressed at a brief redistricting hearing held during the county board meeting. The board approved the new district boundaries that were outlined on maps in the commissioners’ room.
By a 4-1 split vote with Sue Hakes voting no, the board went along with the planning commission’s recommendation to give Walter and Nancy Sellman until June 15 to install a septic system on their property on Greenwood Lake in order to avoid having their interim use permit (IUP) revoked. The IUP has allowed them to keep their RV on the site, but they have not met deadlines for installing a septic as required by the permit.
State law requires any structure with pressurized water to have a septic system, and since the site has a pump near the lake and a hose near the RV, they are believed to have pressurized water.
The Sellmans have told the county board they use the RV infrequently and have its waste tank pumped at the Grand Marais Rec Park.
In a later interview, Planning & Zoning Administrator Bill Lane said, “We don’t want to restrict people’s property rights, but at this point there’s nothing we can do.”
The board approved a conditional use permit for the Lutsen Trailbreakers Snowmobile Club to place a storage building on county land in a residential zone as well as a 49-year lease with the club. One of the conditions requires the club to work with adjacent property owners on location, lighting, and buffers or screening that will minimize the building’s impact on the neighborhood.
The board agreed to offer the nine hired and four elected department heads the following in ongoing salary negotiations: a 1.8 percent cost of living increase (the first in three years), no step increases, and a requirement that they contribute $10-15/month toward family health insurance premiums if they use that coverage.
The board agreed to pay Boreal.TV $6,000 to videotape all county board meetings that take place in the commissioners’ room for one year. The meetings will be filmed in their entirety and available online within 24 hours. Boreal.TV will make DVDs available to the public library and offer a format that can be used on PAC-13, the local cable TV station.
The board approved a contract with AT&T to replace the Gunflint cell tower with a stronger one. It will be under 200 feet and will not be lighted.
AT&T will pay to build the new tower and move all the equipment from the old one to the new one in exchange for a 25-year rent abatement after which it will pay $8,000 a year to keep its equipment on the tower. Other parties will be able to lease space on the tower as well.
The tower lies on U.S. Forest Service land that the county hopes to obtain in trade for some of the land it owns in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Leave a Reply