Townships find rock bottom prices for gravel

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Members of the Vernon County Commission held an informal meeting with the trustees of the county's townships on Tuesday, March 9, to inform the trustees of an opportunity to purchase rock for road and other projects for a bargain price.

The rock, available from Ash Grove Aggregates, is located in the company's quarry near El Dorado Springs and is well below the current price of $7.50 per ton. Northern Commissioner Neal Gerster told those present that the rock is only available to counties at this time and Ash Grove would not provide a way to load any rock purchased.

Gerster said he did not know how much rock was there, but he said there was a lot of it and he thought they would be taking rock out of there for a couple of years. The rock is 1 and 1 1/2 inch base rock and can be purchased for the price of $3.50 per ton.

Originally, the offer was only open to counties but Gerster said he talked Ash Grove into letting the townships get in on it because of the county's township structure. Ash Grove expressed concern over several different loaders in the facility. Center Township offered to supply a loader and a man to operate it for 50 cents a ton.

Some trustees expressed concern over the quality of the rock and Gerster told them that "Our road and bridge foreman," had looked at it and said, "some of it's pretty good stuff." Ash Grove will be paid by the townships for the rock as will Center Township for the price of loading.

Gerster said, "we're planning on stockpiling some of it ourselves." He said the kind of rock it is will work well for packing in around culverts and the other uses the county has in mind. The townships will provide their own hauling, so that has some of them thinking that trucking fees for those located a long way from the quarry may outweigh the cost savings. Those townships may elect to purchase rock as they have in the past. The loader from the township may only be available for three to four weeks, and hauling for those who choose to take advantage of the low price is apt to get under way later this week.

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