Steak dinner challenge not yet decided

Steak dinner challenge not yet decided

By Sara Hacking

The awarding of a steak dinner in the dispute over the closing of Wadena County's Highway Department garage in Verndale seemed all the more unlikely after Commissioner Rodney Bounds challenged some of the highway engineer's numbers.

Engineer Joel Ulring estimated labor and travel expenses of around $850 for a worker to use a Staples garage the county rents from Todd County.

Recently, Bounds confronted Ulring with his own calculations.

The labor rate Ulring gave of $750 for one person to travel back and forth didn't include benefits, Bounds said.

"If you include the benefits to that person ... it's $1,081," he said.

Ulring said he would argue with including the benefits numbers in the total. The worker would have gotten that regardless of how he spent his time, he said.

Bounds also questioned Ulring's calculation that 40 trips at 40 miles per trip at 70 cents a mile added up to a little more than $100.

"It was quite off," Bounds said.

Ulring had calculated the miles for the trip to total 160 rather than 1,600. He said he realized his mathematical error after the fact. The total cost would have amounted to $1,020.

Bounds said the total cost of having a worker travel to Staples should have been about $4,601 instead of the slightly more than $850 cost that Ulring stated.

Bounds also requested Ulring add up some additional numbers.

He wants to know the cost of running the motor grader from where it is stationed in Wadena to be used in Verndale, he said. Bounds also wants the cost of labor for a worker to go back and forth from Wadena to the Verndale area. And he wants to know the cost for the county to contract with the city of Verndale for snow removal on county roads in Verndale.

"So we have a true picture what the total cost is, not what you presented to us," Bounds said. "That's it."

Chairman Dave Schermerhorn asked Ulring if he had any rebuttal.

"Not at this time," Ulring replied. "I will pull those figures together."

The subject of the Verndale garage was last addressed at the Feb. 19 county board meeting. Ulring had expressed confusion as to why the garage became an issue with Commissioner Ralph Miller and Bounds during the fall election since he had not received any complaints about its closing.

Miller and Bounds both challenged Ulring, who recommended the board close the shop last year, about the decision and questioned the financial benefits of relocating the equipment. Bounds even jokingly offered to take Ulring out for a steak dinner if he could show how the county saved money by closing the Verndale garage.

Ulring said the relocation offered better service and renting space in Toddy County provided an opportunity for intergovernmental cooperation. He also said the county simply does not need to have five of its own garages. The Verndale Economic Development Authority offered $15,000 to purchase the Verndale garage after the county put it up for sale, he said.