Steele County Breaks Ground on new Public Works Building

Ground breaking was Tuesday for the new Steele County Public Works Building. The site is on old Highway 14 just west of Aldi's. Building a new complex had been discussed for a number of years. In 2010 the floods got the upper hand on the Highway Maintenance Shop.

The project will be done in two phases. Currently a practice called "scarffing" is being done. In a nut shell the damp soil, which is a combination of clay and peat, is turned over so it will dry. There will also be grading and road construction along with the building of a fuel island and a salt/sand storage building, which will take place this summer.

Phase two will be the building of the actual complex.

The highway department spends $5,500 to $6,000 a day on personnel.

The state bonding bill is providing $4 million, with an additional $1.6 million coming from the Minnesota Homeland Security and Emergency Management division of FEMA.