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News
News
By Peter Nocerini
Special to the Reporter
IRON RIVER – Members of the Road Commission heard some good news at their Nov. 8 regular meeting. Thanks to some funds being returned by the state, the commission will be able to move ahead on two road projects sooner than expected.
Superintendent Doug Tomasoski said he recently got a letter from MDOT, which said it is reallocating unused funds back to regional task forces. The refund is based on project savings and unobligated projects over the years.
This area’s task force, which also includes Gogebic and Ontonagon counties, gets back about $750,000, the second highest total returned in all of Michigan. At first, Tomasoski noted, he suspected the document had been hacked, since it seemed too good to be true.
“We are getting an additional $248,000 that has to be obligated this year,” he told commissioners. “So we’re trying to get a full task force meeting because of the timeliness of it.” That meeting has tentatively been set later this month in Ontonagon.
Since the funds must be allocated right away, commission officials looked at two projects that are ready to go: the next phase of the multi-year Baumgartner Road project, which is being lengthened, and the Gaastra portion of the County Road 424 project.
The funds will be split roughly 50-50 between the two. This will help Gaastra, since the city was short of funds to pay its share of the 424 work. With the added funding, the superintendent said, Gaastra’s consultant feels they will be able to complete the full length of the project.
“It was good news!” Tomasoski said. Construction for both jobs will be in 2023.
● There will soon be a new face on the Road Commission. Commissioner Sue Clisch announced at the end of the meeting that she is stepping down from the job effective immediately. Clisch had earlier served as county administrator.
“I’ll miss you guys,” she said as she fought back tears.
● The commission made several new hires for its work crews recently, and all but one are now on the job—the last one should start by the end of November.
New hires not mentioned before are:
--Heavy equipment operator: Ryan Lohrey.
--Mechanics at Crystal Falls: Mark Lamb and David Olson.
--Mechanic aide at Iron River: Tyler Laturi.
As for the engineering assistant and construction foreman post, interviews have been completed and one person has been offered the job. The person selected will take the place of Brad Toivonen, who has been named the commission’s new superintendent starting next July. Tomasoski said the early transition work with Toivonen has gone well.
● After discussion, the commission authorized head mechanic Dean Stolberg to bid for a used truck at an auction in Brown County, Wisconsin. Stolberg said it is a 2004 International with 123,000 miles on it, in “average” shape with front plow, wings and a sander. It has a Cummins automatic engine and is “no emissions.”
Commissioners discussed funds available in the budget. This year’s budget had $300,000 allocated for capital outlay, with about $170,000 spent. For road equipment, $355,000 was budgeted, and $212,000 of that remains. The commission had planned to buy one new truck during 2022 and reframe another truck, but neither was done.
Stolberg said the commission has several old trucks, and he wants to reframe one of them. A new truck purchase may be two years away. The used truck joining the fleet will need some work, “but if you can get a plow truck for that [$30,000], that’s not bad.”
The commission voted to authorize Stolberg to spend up to $30,001 for the truck. Stolberg said the high bid as of that morning was $10,000, but the auction still had time to run.
● Commissioners approved a three-year contract with Mocorp to provide sand.
The commission had asked for a one-year bid with an optional two-year extension. Mocorp bid for all three years; the only other bidder, Williams Redi-Mix, bid for 2023 only.
Commissioners discussed a dispute from earlier this year when the sand price increased due to higher fuel costs.
Mocorp did not provide all the material it had promised for this year; Tomasoski said it was short by about 3,500 tons. He said Mocorp has promised to provide that amount next year at this year’s price.
He said the Oss Road garage has enough sand for this winter. As for Iron River, he said the Road Commission produced some material “quite a few years ago” at the Anderson Pit and left it there in reserve. Some of it may be moved to Iron River this fall.
On a related topic, Tomasoski said crews have done some clearing at the Amasa salt shed site, also putting in some roads. “It looks really good.” The commission may put that site out for bids before the end of the year.
● In his report, Tomasoski told board members:
--Bids for phase 5 of the County Road 424 project (Treeline Drive to near Blue Lake hill) came in about 4.5% higher than expected. “Not terribly bad,” he said, “with how things are so up in the air now with inflation and fuel prices and everything.” Two firms made bids.
Commissioners authorized Tomasoski to sign the MDOT contract for phase 5. It also named Tomasoski project engineer for the phase 4 of Baumgartner Road (Eden Drive to south of Snipe Lake).
--Two townships have sent in their revised five-year local road plans.
--Leases on the county’s two Caterpillar loaders have expired and were paid off by McCoy Construction and Forestry. The county will continue using those loaders until new John Deere loaders leased from McCoy arrive: one in late December and one in late January.