Wishes That Will Never Come True

[indygal]

Honeysuckle is a good choice, and smells good, too.

[sixdogsmom]

Sounds like a good community project?

[Diane Amberg]

Now you're talking! Do you all have a local garden club there? At the right time of year, slips and cuttings and seeds would be easy. And things that don't need a lot of care or watering. Or evergreens to shield it? 

[Wilma]

Thank you, Liz.  It looks so much better, you can tell the boys not to worry about the flowers.

I have lots of honeysuckle.  Any volunteers to move some of it across the street?

[Varmit]

Wilma - I agree - I wish the county yard was outside the city limits and we only had ONE to deal with - a centralized road shop.  Last year because you commented on the condition of the county road shop, I personally mowed the ditches my self twice atleast.  I know the guys should do it, but I guess I would rather have them on a blade rather than a lawnmower.  Besides I have nothing else to do.  However, I don't think flowers will be growing anytime soon.  But I will see what we can do about the appearance of it.  And yes residents do live around the other two shops also.  They just haven't found the forum yet.

Centralized shop...bad idea.  Lets say for example they put the shop somewhere around howard, then the crews for longton, grenola, and moline would have to road their equipment to their various districts every morning and nite, resulting in less time spent on road work.  Not to mention higher fuel comsumption.

[pepelect]

Why are we mowing?   Your inventory of the county yard left out one area weed control.  Mow once mow for ever...Chemically treat once never again.


Our current county shop buildings and three shop management theory are very antiquated.  They are too small to handle the equipment we own and use.  They are not set up with anything that would improve productivity.  They are not an asset to the county.  I think all three are a liability. Which means counter productivity costs me money.  I think we should look at the age and functionality of the yards as a basis of their value not just their location.  Redundancy is redundancy....


One central shop is a very good idea.  Leave the equipment where the job is.  Ever see a new road construction crew bring the equipment to the job site every day?  Why does the road grader have to be at the shop every night?  Wouldn't it make more sense to start the job from the job not in transit?

Why would county fuel go up?

Does it cost more to drive a crew cab truck at road speeds or $500,000 worth of heavy equipment at 25mph?  Keeping the blade in contact with the ground 10 hours a day for a change would make more sense than three shops.  Crews could travel and lube/service trucks could work on equipment remotely.   The only reason to bring a piece of equipment to the shop would be to fix something broken that can't be fixed in the field.......I have yet to figure what that could possibly be.   I have never understood the theory behind lining up all the equipment back at the shop every night just to go back to where they left off the day before. 
It would be like mowing your yard and putting the mower in the garage after every three rounds.  If the job is completed go home. 

It is not like we have a daily change of need.  If the road needed to be graded last night when the day was over it still needs graded the next morning.  If we are putting in a new culvert or better yet digging out a ditch to actually get the water to run down hill then that equipment needs to be moved as a basis of need not habit.  If the job is done take it to the next one.   Why come home first? 



I will say that the roads are getting better. I have not had to have the front end locked in to get to the highway all winter.  The water only  runs half way across the road south of my house now.  With time and patients the ditches will one day be functional waterways once again. 

[sixdogsmom]

Pep, have you forgotten the vandals? What a field day they would have. If you remember what vandals did out at the rodeo grounds a few years back when they got a big piece of equipment running---- with the resulting demolition of the block building concession stand? Of course those kids did not come from the Elk county area, they were most certainly imports.    And as far as herbicides are concerned, the less the better. Ask the Viet Nam vets about it, or an immigrant from Viet Nam about some of those. Ask about the birth defects and the late in life diseases that are associated with herbicides. Less is more, and there are other ways to control weeds than herbicides. 

[Varmit]

Hey, Pepelect, you ever try working on a piece of equipment in the rain or snow? Or when it is 100+ degrees?  Or simply changing the oil on the side of the road? Not to mention repairing and rebuilding an engine.  Not only is it a pain, but it is also dangerous to our road crew.  Its not like people are actually driving all that safe on those roads, not only that but leaving equipment on the road would present a traffic hazard.  And our needs DO change on a daily basis, washouts do not occur in the exact spot every time it rains.  As for ditches, what would you have them do..spend months fixing the ditches and let the roads go?  I think they are doing the best they can with what they have, so cut them a little slack!  And on the herbicides thing...elk county water is bad enough without adding anymore to it.

[pepelect]

Ask the Viet Nam vets about it, or an immigrant from Viet Nam about some of those. Ask about the birth defects and the late in life diseases that are associated with herbicides. Less is more, and there are other ways to control weeds than herbicides. 

We have come along way from VietNam defoliage control products.   Although they don't work quite as well they are very safe and effective.

Pep, have you forgotten the vandals? What a field day they would have. If you remember what vandals did out at the rodeo grounds a few years back when they got a big piece of equipment running---- with the resulting demolition of the block building concession stand? Of course those kids did not come from the Elk county area, they were most certainly imports.   

Technology has come a long way.  GPS systems are cheap and can shut down a piece of equipment if it starts up after a certain time, goes out of a specific area, or simply lock the door. Install a keypad on every piece of equipment and our insurance exposure will go down along with the rate.  How safe is a 20ton piece of equipment behind a hog wire fence with a $4 padlock?  Locks only keep your friends honest.    
Don't we still have a sheriff and as long as we don't have too many out of town guests, space in the jail for the joyriders?

Vandal are vandals...   I bet you ten to one at each of the four corners of the county there is a land owner that will gladly free up some valuable taxable personal property space to park a piece of equipment overnight.  Give the existing yards to the cities and use the same space as rent on equipment used in the city limits.  If you blade the drive on the way out they might even top off the fuel tank....Why not try it and see if it will work before you shut down every idea that comes along?

Back to the original thread....Why can't we get rid of the impounded cars.   They have a specific amount of time to get them out if not then scrap or sell them....IF the city can kill your stray dog after 4 days in the pound then I say after your car is in impound for over a month it is the property of the county.  Consider it abandoned like all the rest of the trash and haul it off to be recycled.  

[pepelect]

Hey, Pepelect, you ever try working on a piece of equipment in the rain or snow? Or when it is 100+ degrees?  Or simply changing the oil on the side of the road? Not to mention repairing and rebuilding an engine.  Not only is it a pain, but it is also dangerous to our road crew.  Its not like people are actually driving all that safe on those roads, not only that but leaving equipment on the road would present a traffic hazard.  And our needs DO change on a daily basis, washouts do not occur in the exact spot every time it rains.  As for ditches, what would you have them do..spend months fixing the ditches and let the roads go?  I think they are doing the best they can with what they have, so cut them a little slack!  And on the herbicides thing...elk county water is bad enough without adding anymore to it.

Yes I have every day.....I don't own a shop big enough for any of my equipment never have. 
So you change the oil every day?  Engines breakdown every day? 

If you can, reread my post....I said if the piece of equipment needs fixed take it to the shop.   Or just pull on to on of the minimum maintenance roads to change out the motor. 

Yes, I would like you to take the next three months off and quit hauling gravel to fix the ditches and let the roads go.   Get rid of all the trees in the water ways and fix the five year back log of bridge repairs if you have time.   If you fix the ditch the road will take care of its self.....  There must be only one guy working and only one piece of equipment available if we can't fix the ditches and fix the roads at the same time.   Wash outs occur the same place every time.  The point of least resistance for the amount of water trying to go down hill...  Fix the ditch and you have fixed the washouts....



I don't mean do all the roads at the same time and I am not saying that the guys don't do a good job.  The salaries are about 1/2 to 1/4 of what they should be but still we live in Elk County.  The water from a half inch rain should not mean that a main road in the county is impassible. 

I applaud the efforts that the crews do with what they have to work with. 


Straighten you panties back out.....