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County looks at Roverud Building in Spring Grove as an alternative
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By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor
Wishing to have a back-up plan in case Houston County is not awarded a federal EDA stimulus grant to help fund the proposed highway department complex, the county board formed a committee to investigate the former Roverud Construction building in Spring Grove as an alternative site.
The county board discussed the Spring Grove site at the June 2 meeting when County Commissioner Tom Bjerke brought the issue before the board. He stated that Highway Engineer Brian Pogodzinski, Highway Superintendent Tom Molling and County Financial Director Casey Bradely toured the approximately 12-acre site and felt that the county should consider it, in the event they don’t receive any stimulus money and the current highway building becomes inhabitable.
The county highway department is currently housed in a cinder-block building near the fairgrounds on the southeast edge of Caledonia. That building has numerous structural issues, including leaky roofs, poor foundations and is situated on approximately five acres of land with the only access and egress onto residential streets.
The county already owns about three acres of land at a satellite shop on Highway 44 on the east edge of Spring Grove, which houses a salt/sand shed and a small maintenance building. The county land and the Roverud site abut each other and would make a 15-acre site, which Molling feels would be enough acreage for the county’s needs.
Pogodzinski told the board the Roverud site is a “nice facility, but would need some work to accommodate the highway technicians and does not fill the needs for salt storage or vehicle storage.”
A committee made up of commissioners Bjerke, Jack Miller, and Molling, Pogodzinski, and Bradley was formed and will take a closer look at the facility and report back to the full county board.
Other highway issues
Seal coating bids too high
The board spent about 15 minutes trying to figure out how to come up with an extra $33,000 for the annual seal coating program. According to Pogodzinski, the county budgeted $300,000 for seal coating about 24 miles of county roads this summer.
The engineer’s estimate was $312,697.92, but with lower petroleum prices and massive belt-tightening during the budgeting process due to state aid cuts, $300,000 was what the county board set aside for the program. The low bid from Fahrner Asphalt Sealers, LLC of Plover, Wis. was $33,233.03.
The county looked at several options. They could reduce the number of miles of roads worked on, which would reduce the price. But according to County Auditor Char Meiners, if the amount of work was going to be reduced, the project would have to be re-bid.
Molling noted that salt prices appear to be lower this year than last year. The county might be able to realize a savings if the salt price does indeed come in lower than what the county budgeted for.
(While making a stop at The Argus office Friday morning Molling said the preliminary news he received from the state was that the state bid would be less than what the county paid last year for salt. “We haven’t received official confirmation yet, but it does appear the price will come in considerably lower than what we budgeted. So we will probably be able to go ahead with the seal coating program as planned,” Molling said.)
Not knowing Tuesday morning what Molling knew Friday afternoon, the board decided to table any action on the seal coating bid for one week. The motion to table action was unanimously approved.
You can contact Charlie Warner at
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