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WALKER - Cass County commissioners voted Tuesday to move ahead with developing an agreement under which the county would build an addition for county use to the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) garage at Remer.

Dan Anderson, MnDOT district manager from Baxter, told the board any agreement he and Cass County Engineer David Enblom develop would have to be approved by MnDOT officials as well as the county board.

Administrator Robert Yochum said there currently are over 40 road maintenance garages in the county. They are owned variously by state, county and city or township governments. The county board has encouraged co-locating and consolidating garage sites where it makes sense, he said.

To build a new, county-only garage in Remer would cost about $800,000. To build an addition to the state garage, the county's cost would be closer to $500,000, plus the county could sell the old garage to partially offset the cost, Enblom said.

The proposed plan would call for the county to build the building, then have a contract to use the building for a set number of years. After that time, the state would assume ownership of the building addition.

If for any reason the state asked the county to leave the building before that time limit, the state would retain ownership but would owe the county an amortized amount of cash, Yochum explained.

Enblom said the state and county currently have an agreement to exchange some snow plow routes in the Remer area to be more efficient. By co-locating at one site, it is hoped the state and county can also share equipment to affect greater savings.

Enblom will report back to the board when a draft agreement is completed. He said he hopes to build in 2014.

The commissioners approved seeking state approval to enable the county to borrow from 2015 state aid funds if needed to complete proposed road construction projects in 2014.

They approved paying the cities of Cass Lake, Pine River, Walker and Hackensack $12,956.65. The distribution is paid at $6,229.16 per mile.

After learning that all properties in a plat on Portage Lake west of Bena would still have access to a public road, the board voted Tuesday to vacate a portion of Lake Avenue on the condition all parties affected sign a county release of damages form.

Second publication rights after Brainerd Dispatch.[[In-content Ad]]

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