By Sara Strong
Rock County Engineer Mark Sehr presented the five-year construction plan at Tuesday’s County Board meeting.
Sehr said the planned projects for 2003 assume that state funding remains the same as projected. They are:
Three miles of County State Aid Highway (CSAH) 4 west from Luverne to CSAH 11, including grade and surface work
Five miles of CSAH 3 from Iowa to CSAH 15, including mill and overlay
Three miles of CSAH 8 from CSAH 9 to CSAH 3, including mill and overlay
Seven miles of CSAH 17 from Iowa to Interstate 90, including mill and overlay
Bridge replacement .8 mile west of CSAH 9 in Vienna Township
Bridge replacement .9 mile west of CSAH 9 in Vienna Township
Bridge replacement 1 mile north and 1.1 mile east of Beaver Creek.
Eight other various township bridge replacements
Total costs for all the 2003 projects is $3,450,000. After various aids are applied, local costs are $80,000.
Equipment purchase
The Rock County Board of Commissioners approved a request from the Highway Department to accept the high bid on a diesel track loader for the Transfer Station.
Highway Department employees said they preferred the CAT model to a similar John Deere because of predicted lower maintenance costs and greater trade-in value.
The Deere model has German parts that employees are unaccustomed to, and the CAT has extra protection package for the heavy wear transfer station vehicles get.
The county was spending $15,000 to $20,000 annually on its 1989 Fiat’s maintenance.
The CAT model the Board approved purchasing cost $219,383 after a trade-in for $4,500.
The John Deere model would have cost $198,300 and would have given the county $7,500 in trade-in value.
Both offered guaranteed maintenance agreements: CAT was for $1,250 and Deere was for $5,000.
The county is financing a portion of the purchase: the CAT rate was at 4.5 percent and the Deere was at 4 percent. The county will pay $100,000 down and finance the remainder.
