County to take on several bridge repair, rebuilding projects
Published 12:00 am Thursday, November 11, 1999
Three more bridge repair or replacement projects will get under way soon in Mower County.
Thursday, November 11, 1999
Three more bridge repair or replacement projects will get under way soon in Mower County.
One of them is "historical" in nature.
The county board approved the recommendations of Michael Hanson, county engineer, Tuesday at the board’s regular meeting.
The first is a box culvert project in Lodi Township, where Minnowa Construction Company of Harmony was the low bidder.
The firm’s bid of $39,219 was the low of six bids submitted and 14 percent below the county engineer’s estimated cost for the project.
Ceres Environmental Services, Brooklyn Park, submitted the low bids for two other projects.
A bridge will be replaced in Pleasant Valley Township for a bid of $55,740 or 24 percent less than the estimated cost for the project. Five bids were submitted for the project.
The third project is a bridge replacement over Rose Creek north of Mower County CSAH No. 4 in Austin Township.
It is commonly known as the "Sayles Bridge," because of its close proximity to the Ray and Dorothy Sayles family’s dairy farm.
While the bridge is in Austin Township, it approaches the Windom Township line.
Hanson said he has visited with appropriate township officials as well as private land owners and all concur, the project should proceed immediately in order to be completed before spring planting next year.
The bridge was essentially a creation of former long-time county engineer Ray Guttormson, who actually took two small truss bridges and connected them to form a single bridge over Rose Creek.
The new bridge will be a triple span model over Rose Creek, according to Hanson.
Also Tuesday, the county engineer and county commissioners agreed to hold an open house to unveil to the public the new Austin county shop and garage building.
The formal ribbon-cutting ceremonies begin at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 30.
After the ceremonies, the county commissioners will make one of their periodic road and bridge inspection trips throughout the county with Hanson.
Also Tuesday, the county board received notification the county has received a Community Oriented Police System grant in the amount of $3,400 for the sheriff’s department request to acquire a drug-sniffing, passive-alert canine unit.
The county had sought $6,000 for the purpose, according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.
Sheriff Barry J. Simonson has estimated the start-up costs of the canine unit at between $7,000 and $8,000 and between $500 and $1,000 a year thereafter.
Also to be sorted out if the canine unit is approved is how the deputy who would become the dog’s handler would be compensated.
The sheriff’s department currently uses either of the Austin Police Department’s canine units for specific purposes in the out-county area.
However, Simonson told the commissioners a week ago, he values having a unit in his department as much for drug-sniffing as for public relations purposes.
The commissioners referred the grant notification to the finance committee, which must make a recommendation to endorse the sheriff’s request or to reject it.