January stats show record blading hours for road department

In a very short meeting and with little on the agenda, the Foster County Commission, namely Commissioner David Utke, spoke about a meeting he had with AT&T, the county’s new cell phone service provider.

During the meeting held on Tuesday, February 1, Utke informed the board that he and Foster County Road Superintendent Nate Monson met with AT&T representatives about adding more phones for the road crew as well as special features to help the crew filter calls through the FirstNet wireless service.

FirstNet is a nationwide wireless broadband communications platform dedicated to America’s first responders and public safety community.

Utke said he also looked at other counties’ snow removal policies, and how they can get Foster County’s policies out to the public because the road crew is following county policy when removing snow.

In other business:

• Utke told the Board that he met with the courthouse custodian about moving some large heavy items from the basement of the Public Health building.

After a short discussion, it seemed no one at the meeting knew what the items are, or where they came from, and why they are being put in the basement of the Public Health office.

Commissioner Becky Hagel said she will find out what the items are, and if they can go to the dump.

• Monson’s road department report showed a total of 59 inches of snow so far this year.

It also showed that in January alone, the road department put on 612 hours on four blades, which averages out to 153 hours per blade for the month.

That figure beats the numbers of hours put on blades in the month of January in the past seven years.

• Monson’s report also showed that the forced air heaters in the shop are working great.