Out of date

HARTINGTON — The building where the City of Hartington stores its trucks, street sweeper, construction equipment, snow removal equipment and other large equipment is far from adequate.

Current and former city utility crew members told a town hall meeting of about 120 people last week the building is long overdue to be replaced.

“The walls are being held together by cables,” said current City Utility Superintendent Corey Kramer. “The place is bat-infested, too.”

Besides the condition of the current building and its structural issues, the building is just too small and cramped for the needs of today.

“You’ve got to move four things out in order to get a fifth one that you need out the door,” said former City Utility Superintendent Pat Guy.

And getting through one of the overhead doors, isn’t easy, either.

“We’ve ruined a lot of stuff just trying to get through those doors,” Kramer said.

City equipment is currently stored in three locations: the city shop, the old Fire Hall and an old horse barn.

The Hartington City Council is proposing the construction of a new 150-by-80-foot city maintenance building based on the design of the new Hartington Fire Hall.

The seven-bay building would be large enough to house all of the equipment, eliminating the need to keep the old Fire Hall, which could then be sold off, Hartington Mayor Mark Becker said.

Besides being larger to accommodate the bigger equipment used today, the new building would also include a wash bay to clean up equipment once it’s been used.

“We don’t have one right now, and in the summertime, that garbage truck gets a little ripe,” Becker said.

Becker said the new building could be located on the same block where the VFW is located, which is across the street from the current shop.

Putting up such a structure would cost the city an estimated $1.2 million, Becker said, adding these are preliminary estimates and actual costs won’t be known if or until the project is put out for bid.

“We haven’t spent a dime on this yet, and won’t spend a dime on it if we don’t get community support. The City Council would like to ask voters in May to bond for $1.3 million so there is enough money on hand to cover any contingencies.

“If we don’t need it all, we won’t spend it,” he said.

Current estimates show the new city tax levy with a bond for the new shop would cost taxpayers an additional $90 per year if they owned a home assessed at $100,000. A resident with a $200,000 home would pay an additional $180 per year. The tax burden could be eased by the fact that Hartington is almost done paying on a bond the city took out 20 years go to build the Hartington Community Complex, Becker said. Only two more payments remain on that bond. As far as the building is concerned, it’s outlived its usefulness, Becker said.

“That old building really should be bulldozed,” he said.