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WALKER - It costs Cass County $734 for a motor grader and county employee to grade a mile of gravel road - about halfway between the $722 Becker County pays and the $762 Mahnomen County pays to hire private contractors.

This was Cass County Engineer David Enblom's finding and report to the county board in response to Commissioner Jeff Peterson's question last month on whether private contracting might cost the county less than having county employees maintain the county's roads.

He has expressed concern over the county's need to replace aging county garages to house highway department equipment. Enblom noted Tuesday that any garage replacement would only be in a cooperative agreement with another government body.

Cass currently is considering replacing garages at Remer and Pine River in joint projects with the state highway department.

About a dozen private contractors also showed up to find out the answer to maintenance operation cost comparisons. Most of those attending do contract to provide grading and snowplowing services for townships within the county.



Bill Herheim, who has a private business in the Woman Lake area, suggested, private contractors could maintain some road sections for the county that are not located conveniently near other county roads. Enblom said he does that in one southwest area of the county and said he would be willing to consider other areas.

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