County, MnDOT officials to look at possibility of shared truck maintenance station

WALKER - Cass County will investigate with the Minnesota Department of Transportation the possible costs and savings that would be possible if the two governments built a new, shared highway maintenance truck station at Pine River.

The county board on a split vote, with Commissioner Jeff Peterson voting against, authorized Tuesday pursuing a partnership proposal. The commissioners emphasized that cost savings would have to be identified before they would proceed farther with the project.

The commissioners unanimously approved posting "Bike Route" signs along County State Aid Highway 5 between Hackensack and Longville to identify the shoulders on that road as bicycle travel lanes.

They denied County Engineer David Enblom's request to permit the three highway maintenance foremen to regularly take a county vehicle home, so they could more quickly respond to being called out.

In the commissioners' view, foremen are not called from their homes often enough to warrant regular county vehicle use from their homes.

Current board policy permits only licensed peace officers to take county vehicles to their homes on a regular basis. Department heads may authorize an employee to take a county vehicle home on an intermittent basis for a special use such as when an employee will leave early in the morning to attend an all-day, out-of-town conference.

Assistant County Engineer Kris Lyytinen reported the county used about 60 percent of its salt contract for salt/sand applications on winter roads over the winter this year.

After a MnDOT traffic survey, the board approved setting the speed limit on Cass County Road 142 (Steamboat Loop Road) on the west side of Leech Lake at 35 mph. That road also serves as a connecting link for a bicycle trail.