IVANHOE — The Lincoln County Board approved Midstate Reclamation’s bid to grind up 3 miles of the blacktop on County Road 134.

County Engineer Dave Halbersma presented the four bids and the winner’s at $14,533.30, which was about half of what he had estimated it to total.

“It could be done by October 20,” he said.

He added that it was a controversial topic, turning blacktop back to gravel, and the county had postponed it as long as it could, but it was time. That section of road is in very bad shape.

Halbersma added there was money from Xcel Energy from when it had used the road for access to a substation.

“With that $25,000, we have enough for the grinding,” he said.

“I think you also have money in the budget,” Commissioner Mic VanDeVere said. “Will you be using what is ground to smooth out the road?”

“Yes,” Halbersma said, “to smooth it out and compact it.”

Halbersma also asked the board to approve a $29,000 (plus tax and title fees) expenditure on a 1995 Kenworth milk truck to be used as a water truck for the highway department.

It was unanimously approved after Halbersma said he had expected to pay twice that for something smaller. He found this one on Craigslist.

The Kenworth has 600,000 miles on it. It has a newer C12 Cat engine with 425,000 miles on it. The truck has a 5,000 gallon capacity, which might be twice what they need, but for the price, it was a good deal.

Other items on the engineer’s report included getting complaints from the city of Verdi about seeding the ditches. Barring heavy rain, Halbersma said, the new seed should take root.

Halbersma said he had to go on leave soon and would be turning the reins over to new-hire Joe Wilson. Wilson had passed his engineering test earlier this year and was getting familiar with the job.

“The transition should take place at the October 3 meeting,” Halbersma said. “We discussed several scenarios, including sending Dustin (Hauschild) back to school for his degree, but this is what we came up with.”

Halbersma said he would still be available to give advice, but this would be a permanent transition.

Halbersma also reported on the progress of the Tyler shop. The construction required just the west doors and part of the roof, he said. It could be done by the end of this week or sometime next week.

“We’ll finish the inside ourselves,” he said.

Also during the meeting, Lincoln County Veterans Service Officer Dan Kuss reported the new van they had received earlier this summer is working great.

“I am in the process of establishing policy and operating procedures along with securing and training volunteer drivers,” he said.

He requested a resolution be adopted to accept the 2018 MDVA (Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs) CVSO (County Veterans Service Officer) Operational Enhancement Grant for Lincoln County. Some of the monies will be used for the van service to transport veterans to the VA in Sioux Falls and Watertown, South Dakota.

“The rest of it will go toward veteran outreach, training, reintegrating combat veterans into society, preventing homelessness among veterans and advertising,” Kuss said. “There will be money spent on enhancing the operations of the Lincoln County Veterans Service Office in Ivanhoe.”