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County to receive $17 million to help rebuild infrastructure
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By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor
While attending his last meeting, Houston County Highway Engineer Marcus Evans provided the county board with some good news. During the Oct. 7 meeting, Evans reported the county would be receiving approximately $17 million from the state to help rebuild the county’s infrastructure that was devastated during the August 2007 and June 2008 floods.
Evans explained that the state had $26 million available to rebuild roads and bridges in the seven Southeast Minnesota counties that were part of the federal disaster area following the August 2007 floods. A portion of the original amount had been utilized by the various counties. A committee made up of county engineers, and other representatives from the seven counties, reviewed the various repair projects and appropriated the money. Because Houston County incurred the most damage to its infrastructure, it was awarded the most money.
“We applied for just over $14 million and received $13.8 million,” Evans said. “I was very pleased with the way the engineers and representatives from other counties realized the amount of damage we had here and approved the funds to help Houston County make the necessary repairs.”
The money will be used for the construction costs only. All engineering costs will come out of state and county funds, Evans pointed out.
The replacement of six bridges will take the lion’s share of the money. Those bridges include:
•One county bridge- on CSAH 22 near Highway 16 in Mound Prairie Township
•Four township bridges- on Cork Hollow Road in Brownsville Township; Perkins Valley Drive in Money Creek Township; two bridges in Mound Prairie Township (Bush Valley and Day Valley roads)
•One in the city of Brownsville.
“These projects are above and beyond the bridge projects we have in place?” Commissioner Ann Thompson asked. Evans replied that is correct.
“But some of these bridges were probably in need of replacing down the road,” Commissioner Dave Corcoran pointed out.
Evans cautioned the county board that the county will need help from other county engineers to complete all the engineering issues involved with these projects.
“We’ve worked back and forth with neighboring counties in the past. And with me leaving, it would behoove the county to begin planning for these projects right away and seeking assistance from other county engineers. They have conducted similar projects and know how to deal with the paperwork.”
Evans also explained the county will be receiving about $3.7 million from the Mn/DOT State Aid Disaster account. This money comes from the state gas tax and is to be used for disaster repair. With all of the damage to the county’s infrastructure, and because the county has paid for much of the work for repairs to private contractors, the county is currently facing a cash flow problem. This money will help with the cash flow problem. If and when the county receives reimbursements from FEMA, the county will be required to pay that portion back to the Mn/DOT State Aid Disaster account.
You can contact Charlie Warner at
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