The Kendall County Commissioners essentially denied County Engineer Rick Tobolka’s requested to rent brush grinding equipment despite the growing pile at the brush site near the fairgrounds, leaving the facility unable to accept commercial brush while residential brush becomes a growing burden.
The commissioners opted to take no action on the request last week, but they remained willing to hear the request again at the next meeting should Tobolka provide an update on the situation.
The county’s brush grinder recently experienced its end of days after 20 years of use when Tobolka said the equipment had failures on both sides of its frame. He said the old equipment was no longer safe to operate and became unfixable. However, the county did budget for a replacement grinder, but due to common manufacturing delays, it’s unclear when the new equipment will arrive.
While the equipment was budgeted for this year, the item will carry over should the equipment arrive after the next budget year begins Oct. 1.
The request before the commission last week was to rent a grinder in the meantime to mulch the growing brush pile at the county site, which Tobolka said is creating a fire hazard. While the facility has already had to stop accepting brush from any commercial sites, he said it is still accepting residential brush. But it’s unclear how much longer residential brush can be accepted without respite.
“We’re making an effort this week to make some more room,” Tobolka said. “We want to continue accepting residential brush, and we’re working on making extra room.”
During the commissioners meeting last week, Tobolka indicated it may be a challenge to continue allowing residential brush, something the commissioners didn’t want to see halted.
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