HUMBOLDT — The RM of Humboldt is building a bigger maintenance shop, replacing its two older ones.
Larry Ries, reeve of the municipality, said one of the older shops was rotten and unsafe to be used. The RM originally tried moving the shop, but it collapsed when they tried to move it.
“We couldn’t even move it,” Ries said. “We had an individual interested in taking it if we could have moved it out to his facility, out to his farm... But when movers tried to lift it, one part went up, the other part came down.”
It was 40 by 60 feet long and was used by RM for all their maintenance.
“We have no room now in our old shop. With the new way and our new configuration of the graders, per se, we could get two graders in our shop but we couldn’t walk around them. So that’s how tight it was.”
The second older shop was a steel quonset used for storage. This shop has been sold as it won’t be needed for the new shop, and it was in the way of the build.
Ries said this project isn’t something new.
“I came on board at the last election as reeve. This has already been discussed for the last nine years, so this is not something I just came up with or a new plan,” Ries said. “We’ve always been too small.”
The new shop will be 80 by 120 feet, and will serve both maintenance and storage. It is expected to be complete and operational on Oct. 1.
“We run for the most part, a construction crew. We build our own roads, we have our own rock trucks, we have our own backhoes and track hoes, and all that kind of stuff. So we’re in need of something to keep our machinery line in work.”
Ries wouldn’t give the exact cost but said the project is over half a million dollars.
