IVANHOE — The Lincoln County Board on Tuesday approved a bid from Sussner Construction for building a maintenance building in Tyler during Tuesday’s meeting.

Sussner submitted a bid of $143,600 for a wood frame structure that County Engineer Dave Halbersma said his crew could finish out themselves.

The bid was only $400 less that a steel structure bid from Space Development Co., which also had appeal, Halbersma said.

“I know from experience that it’s cheaper to finish out a wood structure than a steel one,” Commissioner Mic VanDeVere said. “You don’t have wood beams or walls to suspend light fixtures or shelves from with steel.”

Halbersma had recommended the steel one because it would come with insulation. But after the board heard about the comparison regarding finishing the building, it voted to go with the wood structure.

“We figured we’d finish it ourselves no matter which way you went,” Halbersma said. “The pitched roof is steeper with the wood, which would be better.”

The board also voted unanimously to spend $7,652.05 out of the recorders compliance account to purchase four computers for the recorder’s office.

“We rotate in the office, and it’s our department’s turn to get new computers,” Recorder Loretta Lundberg said.

In conjunction with the computers, the board unanimously approved to contract with Fidlar Technologies for Media Conversion at a total cost of $13,236.69, which is also to come out of the recorder’s compliance account.

Also appearing before the Lincoln County Board was Environmental Administrator Robert Olsen.

Olsen discussed the recycling issue with the board. He proposal to move the county’s recycling site from behind the Hendricks lumberyard back to the county highway department site. The environmental administrator recommended putting up a thick cedar fence. His department could share the cost of the fence with the highway department

“The fence has visual restriction,” Olsen said, indicating that was another benefit to having the fence.

The board voted unanimously in favor of moving the recycling site to the highway department lot but tabled the fence until a future meeting.

The board did vote unanimously to put out a request for proposals on a recycling pickup contract.

Olsen also asked to let out bid to find an affordable recycling hauler. Currently much of the rural area garbage and recycling pick-up is done by Waste Management. It also does the city of Arco, Olsen said.

He also requested hiring a new part-time person for the county landfill recycling station. The pros would be not paying current employees overtime to stop their current duties to work over there.

Olsen proposed some options, such as hiring someone for 12.5 hours per week, two afternoons and Wednesday mornings.

However, Olsen was worried about the amount of material going through the facility.

“We have a lot more business and material coming out there,” he said.

Olsen also said a half-time would be considered a union position. And finding someone to work 20 hours per week would be easier to find than someone to work just 12 1/2. He also said insurance premiums that go with 20 hours per week.

“How about hiring a high school intern to get us through the summer months?” Commissioner Joe Drietz asked.

“Yes,” Olsen said. “But the 12 1/2 hours are not attractive to high schoolers who want full-time jobs during the summer. And, we’re dealing with money, so I’d like this person to be at least 18 and responsible.”

Olsen said he realized that even if the board said, “Yes” today, it would still have to go through a union review.

Olsen finally offered to submit his request for this added position as part of the budget.

“That’s fair,” VanDeVere said.

“I don’t have a problem with that,” Board Chairman Rick Hamer said.

Under other business, Parks Manager Daryl Schlapkohl and Emergency Director Amber Scholten presented the board with questions on how to deal with camper safety during inclement weather at county campsites.

Board members wanted to know what other counties were doing. Schlapkohl and Scholten said that a few of them had built larger, stronger bathrooms to serve as emergency shelters.

One of the computers in the recorder’s office had burned up last week, Lundberg said, so it was good timing.

“We just wanted some ideas,” Schlapkohl said, “because I get asked these questions all the time, like ‘Will you alert us to storms?’ ‘Where do we go for shelter,’ and such.”

He said that a representative from the Minnesota Counties Insurance Trust would be out the next day. And perhaps he should find out what that insurance agency suggests.

VanDeVere also suggested seeing someone from Southwest Health and Human Services to ask whom to get hold of to ask what can be done.

For now, however, all Lincoln County can offer was a siren system.

The board also voted unanimously to leave the CPR training as voluntary for courthouse employees as it has been in the past, rather than make it mandatory as discussed at the previous meeting.