Rockford County Shop Saved, But Only For Winter Road Work Shop Will Be Staffed With Three To Five Workers Armed With Plows And Graders

They can’t take the frost off windshields or the cold out of vinyl seats, but Spokane County commissioners are doing what they can to make winter driving easier for residents of southeast Spokane County.

Commissioner Steve Hasson on Friday approved spending $25,000 on improvements at the county shop in Rockford. The shop, which will be used winters only, was supposed to be abandoned.

County engineer Bill Johns said the shop will be staffed this winter with three to five workers armed with plows and graders.

Bad roads were the big complaint in April when Hasson and Commissioner Phil Harris held a public hearing in Freeman.

The problem, residents said, was that the county moved most of the equipment and crews for their area out of Rockford when a new Spangle shop opened several years ago.

The Rockford shop is in such bad shape, county officials said at the hearing, it would cost $250,000 to get it into working condition.

Crews used it on a limited basis last winter but would probably abandon it this year.

The comment brought such jeers that Commissioners Steve Hasson and Phil Harris promised to look for ways to keep the shop open.

Hasson said road officials have decided since then that the residents and road workers who testified were right: Rockford-area roads do get too little attention.

“Based on what we heard in … Freeman, we’re doing a course correction,” said Hasson.

But the county can’t afford a new shop, Hasson said. Instead, he approved a plan to leave the shop as-is, and add a module building with restrooms and a place for employees to get out of the cold.

“They need a place to get shelter out there,” said public works director Dennis Scott.

“It’s a tenth of the cost (of building a new shop), but they’re not getting everything they wanted. That’s the trade-off.”

Hasson said Harris and Commissioner George Marlton were “leaving it up to my good graces” to decide what to do with the shop. The work Hasson approved Friday will be done by winter, Johns said.

Hasson said commissioners probably will hold another hearing in Freeman next month to explain the changes.

, DataTimes