County needs to move forward on Rib Lake shop project

Taylor County needs a new highway shop to serve the Rib Lake area.

The current shop building located just north of Great Northern Cabinetry on CTH D in Rib Lake has outlived its usefulness as a public building.

These statements are nothing new. The county began talking about the need for a new Rib Lake highway shop in the summer of 2018 and in three and a half years since those first discussions, the need to replace the existing shop with a new facility at a new location has not changed.

County highway committee members, staff and the engineers hired to design the project have been moving steadily working to bring the shop from the drawing board to reality. Land was purchased, zoning was changed, plans were drawn up and the project was set to go out to bid at the end of this month.

Those efforts hit a snag last week when the updated engineering estimates put the project price tag at about $3.1 million, 80% higher than what was projected for it in August 2020.

This price jump comes as no surprise to anyone who has been involved with a building project in the past year. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain issues as well as material and labor shortages have contributed to increased costs. Combined with this are pressures from a booming private sector economy which is seeing retail expansion increasing demand for materials and crews.

Highway committee members rightfully paused at that point and were right in saying they needed to go back to the full county board with the new cost projections. They were also right in asking the engineer for options to scale back the cold storage portion of the shop building. Members of the county board must likewise do the right thing. They must weigh the cost versus benefits of a scaled back shop versus the facility as planned as to which will meet the current and future needs of the county. They must look at financing options including the possibility of borrowing additional funds for the long-term project. Most importantly, supervisors must agree to move forward with putting the project out to bid and getting a new shop building built this summer.

The reality is that construction costs are not likely to return to where they were three years ago. That ship has sailed. Going forward, there is hesitancy among contractors to predict what costs might do beyond the material they have sitting in their yards. The best outlook is one of prices stabilizing, with pessimists predicting further increases. Delaying the project will end up costing county taxpayers more, and getting them less in the long run.

Replacement of a highway shop building is a once in a generation investment. It is important for the county to do it right, knowing that the facility’s service life will extend long beyond the terms of office of those who are being asked to make this decision.