Flagstaff County looking to expand Maintenance Shop

Flagstaff County is looking at ways they can make their aging 39-year old Public Works Maintenance Shop fit the needs of a new and larger fleet of equipment.

Council passed a motion during their Jan. 22 meeting to approve to proceed with the development of a plan for a wash bay and equipment storage facility shop expansion project of approximately 35,000 sq. ft.

One of the issues with the building is inadequate space, with no room to service more than one piece of equipment at a time in most cases.

Originally built to handle 43 pieces of equipment owned and operated by the county, that number has grown to 175 pieces, and as council members pointed out during discussion of the project, the size of equipment has increased substantially over the past 39 years.

At present, maintenance staff are unable to work on two graders at the same time.

A lot of equipment warranty work is done in the maintenance shop, to avoid taking equipment items away for long periods of time, which the building committee identified as convenient on one hand, but tying up shop space at present, too.

Ongoing maintenance issues with the roof, and moisture, are additional factors that have led to the recommendation to upgrade.

Read more in the March 4, 2014 edition of The Community Press. On newsstands and via E-Subscription now!

Leslie Cholowsky, Editor