Maintainer Sparks Spirited Discussion
The Glasscock County Commissioners’ Court met July 9 in the community center due to a custody hearing in the courthouse courtroom, and engaged in a spirited discussion of whether to buy a fourth maintainer. Several years ago, Commissioner Mark Halfmann wanted, and after some time, ultimately got, a reduction of equipment from the traditional four maintainers to three. At the time, Halfmann said he thought the four precincts could share three machines, given all the road paving which was in place, and thereby save the large dollars necessary for a fourth maintainer and driver.
Now, however, Halfmann says the sharing has not gone as well as he had hoped, and he often finds himself without a maintainer to service his precinct. He said he is way behind with road shoulder and maintenance work because he can’t get access to a maintainer. He said unless the commissioners can resolve the problems with sharing equipment, or find another solution, he has to have a maintainer.
Halfmann and Commissioner Marck Schafer both said they would like to explore contracting some road shoulder work and maintenance, which Schafer said is necessary only two or three times a year. Commissioner Jimmy Strube said contracting would be cost-prohibitive, and said “…it is evident that [Halfmann] needs a maintainer, maybe a smaller one.” Commissioner Michael Hoch also said he thinks Halfmann needs a maintainer in his precinct.
Schafer said his precinct’s maintainer is one and a half years newer than Strube’s, but has more hours on it. He said Strube’s isn’t run as much because most of Strube’s precinct’s roads are paved. Schafer estimated Strube’s unpaved roads at 8 or 9 miles, compared to his 23 unpaved miles. Strube countered that he has more traffic on his roads than all the other precincts combined.
Halfmann said if a new maintainer is bought, the county will also need to add a driver, and said he doesn’t want to be “hung out to dry this time,” with a machine and no drlver. He said he wants the driver issue settled before a machine is purchased.
Strube said the county employs only 9 full-time road workers, plus 3 part-time, which is down from past years. He said three of the workers are considering retirement.
Ultimately, the commissioners voted 3-1 to take bids on maintainers of two different sizes. Halfmann said he doesn’t want to buy an additional machine, but voted for taking bids, because he is “…between a rock and a hard spot.” Schafer voted against taking bids on a new machine, saying, ”I think there are better solutions to the problem.”
Asking for bids doesn’t mean that a machine will be purchased, but that the court is looking at the prices involved. If a machine is purchased, it would be paid for from monies allocated in next year’s budget.