County eyes worker safety with highway department purchase

Taylor County is looking to spend more up front, but hopes to reduce ongoing expenses and improve safety for workers.

Members of the county’s highway committee on December 15 approved purchasing a new pavement router with dust control. The machine is used in doing crack-filling and other highway work and typically generates a large quantity of dust as it is being used.

Under the county’s safety plan, users of the existing equipment would have to wear respirators and which according to commissioner Ben Stanfley, would require an annual medical sign-off and fit testing at about $106 per employee. He estimated the county’s cost would be close to $3,000 per year.

Stanfley proposed selling the county’s current routers and using those proceeds as well as money earned for crackfilling on the state highways and existing equipment fund budget to pay for the $23,300 machine. He said of that amount $7,200 would come from the crackfilling revenue and estimated the sale of the existing routers would generate about $11,000 in revenue leaving the equipment fund at about $5,000.

“If we know there is a problem we would be negligent not to fix it,” said committee chairman Scott Mildbrand speaking in support of the purchase.

Committee member Rod Adams questioned what the market would be for the sale of the older ones without the dust control given the changes in OSHA standards. Stanfley said he believes there would be interest in the private sector for the used equipment. He said that typically in a private company, only one or two people would be using the equipment and require the respirators, where in the county all the highway personnel use it depending on where they are assigned.

Committee members voted unanimously to approve the purchase as recommended.

Staffing

With concerns over COVID-19 impacting staff levels, committee members approved going ahead with a plan to create limited term patrolman positions to have a back-up in case the department was hit with people sick or on quarantine.

Stanfley said that if approved, they would contact recent highway department retirees for the positions. The positions would be as-needed and Stanfley said it would be primarily to help cover snow plow routes as needed. Stanfley asked for the limited term authorization through April 30, 2021 in order to get through this plowing season. “If we need to do it again next winter we could do it again then,” he said.

Committee members agreed and gave their approval to authorize Stanfley to hire limited term patrol positions as needed. Because it is a new position, it will have to also go to the county personnel committee for action.

In a related matter, committee members approved starting the hiring process to replace a county highway employee who is planning on retiring in mid-March.

Stanfley asked to fill the position ahead of the planned retirement with the goal of having the person hired and being trained by the end of January or in February so that they are ready for road construction in the spring. In addition, he said it would give the department an extra body if needed if other employees got sick.

Currently the department has one staff member who is out with a positive COVID-19 test and another who is quarantined due to a close contact tracing with a family member. He said the county has been lucky so far this winter with not a lot of snow this month.

In other business, committee members:

_ Received an update on the Rib Lake highway shop project. Once the design is completed, Stanfley will have to bring it back for review by the village board. He said the land purchase is scheduled to have closing on January 15 with plans to build this spring.

_ Received a report on the purchase of a new truck frame that will be used for a new patrol truck. The county purchased an International quad axle frame at a cost of $117,000. This was the low bid compared to $132,000 for a Peterbilt with a slightly smaller engine. The county had gone away from Internationals several years ago due to electrical issues. Stanfley said those issues appeared to be resolved in newer trucks and noted the Internationals are heavily used by highway departments in the region. He also noted that with the county looking at doing several trucks over the next few years, the difference in cost would almost pay for a truck.