Groundbreaking Ceremony for Highway Buildings

The boys that made it happen
Originally uploaded by Sally Ann.

Let’s just get this fact out of the way for posterity: It was hot! 92 degrees and rising for the Groundbreaking Ceremony at the Lindley Highway Department. The ceremony would officially record and publicly announce the new construction of a salt shed and equipment building already underway. But hot, dry weather is good for construction and we’ve had plenty of it this summer.

Several town officials along with the Highway Department gathered to symbolically break ground for two new buildings that will protect the mounds of salt and town road equipment from the elements. The two projects were financed by the town from the “fund surplus” the equivalent of a personal savings account. That’s quite a feat in today’s fiscal environment when many local budgets are stretched to the max.

Lindley Councilman, Jake Gross will oversee both projects to completion. His years of construction experience really came in handy for the $125,000 plus construction budget. You want someone who knows what they’re doing when that kind of money is on the line.

The salt shed being erected at the back of the lot will cost the town $9879 and is being built by the Lindley Highway Department crew. Initially the salt shed was designed to be attached to the equipment building and its construction cost included in a contractor’s bid. Jake and Lindley Highway Superintendent Dick Johnson suggested the road crew could build the shed themselves. Dick and Jake learned that the Town of Erwin had built their own salt shed and went down, checked it out and presented the idea to the town board which the board approved. Erwin agreed to loan their excavator and operator to help the Lindley road crew set the blocks on the salt shed. The decision for the road crew to build the free-standing salt shed saved the town approximately $20,000.

Construction on the salt shed started at the end of July. Jake said he periodically checks with Dick to schedule work time on the shed. When the 20’x30’ shed is completed it will hold 200 tons of salt. Town Supervisor Harold Semple said New York State was going to eventually mandate salt sheds, “We wanted to get a jump on it. It was coming down the pike.”

The unheated128’x50’equipment shed is being built by contractor Gary Jones from Liberty Pole. When the pole barn construction is completed its six bays will house the entire fleet of town highway equipment. The building will protect the trucks year round but more so in the winter from snow and ice build up. The road crew will be able to jump in the trucks and drive out without having to spend time cleaning them off. The equipment building cost $115,182. A concrete apron running the full length of the building was recently added to the project by the town board at a cost of $3642. The apron will make it easier to keep the front of the building clean in bad weather and keep the entrance free from ruts and potholes.

A big thank you goes to Jake Gross for being the right man in the right place at the right time. He’s been hands on from the start overseeing all aspects of the projects from dealing with contractors, building supplies and scheduling construction. Jake said, “I’ve been standing on the ground but my hands stayed clean.”

Another big thank you goes to Dick and his road crew (Allen Neal, Ronnie Sawyer, Marc Stocum and Herb Eldridge) for having the skills to build the salt shed that saved the town so much money. And last, but not least, to Supervisor Harold Semple and the town board who, through careful financial management, had the money in place to accomplish these two worthwhile projects for the Town of Lindley.

Click on the photo to go to Sallyann's photostream for more pictures of the Groundbreaking Ceremony.