The Marshall County Highway Department had a lot of business to take care of during Monday’s Commissioner meeting.
Laurie Baker, Highway Administrative Manager said the first order of business was the requests for speed limit reductions on Lincoln Highway west of Plymouth to Pioneer Drive and on 3rd Road between Birch and Beech.
The commissioners approved first reading the amend the speed limit ordinance which will reduce the speed limit from 55 mph to 45 mph on Lincoln Highway west of town and from 55 mph to 35 mph on 3rd Road.
Baker then gave a brief update on the 7th Road mitigation site. The 404 permit has been received and the commissioners have completed the conservation easement for the mitigation site. The project is now eligible for federal funding.
Issues with the Dan and Beth Cashen driveway permit off 3B Road continue. At the last meeting the Cashens appeared before the commissioners with their request to vacate the east portion of 3B between Olive and Quince. If they are not approved for vacation the Cashens said they would donate land to allow the county to construct a cul-de-sac giving them a driveway permit off of it.
The original drive way permit which was submitted in June indicates they would like it off Quince instead of Oliver. The commissioner granted a driveway permit contingent upon completion of a corrected permit being filed and meeting the county standards for the length of a cul-de-sack with their donation of property for such.
Jerry Ambrose from the Highway Department handled question on the awarding of bids for two new tandem axel trucks. Stoops Freightliner from Fort Wayne was low bidder at $84,009 for each truck while W.A. Jones was low bidder on the truck equipment at $79,989 each. Total for both trucks compete was $307,988. The new trucks were bid to plow snow on the US 31 portion that the county will be responsible for once the new US 31 project is completed. It was also noted that the chassis won’t be available until the end of December or early January and then the equipment will be installed making the new trucks available for service in February.
There was a quick discussion on the opportunity to obtain a truck at the JJ Kane Auction this weekend. Ambrose said the current truck servicing rural cul-de-sacs is a 1998 and they have invested approximately $40,000. His suggestion was to stop putting good money into a bad truck and look for a good used F450.
Commission Jack Roose was not in favor of trying the auction noting, “You don’t know what you are purchasing. I believe the last time we ended up with a truck with transmission issues.” There was no further action on the request.
