Despite being a little more than a year old, it seems the rock crusher the county purchased for just over $1 million in 2018 has been broken down more than it has been crushing rock.
Public Works Director Mitch Garner had the belts replaced on the crusher over the summer. Those same belts broke again last week, this time incurring damage to the crusher itself.
Garner explained there are eight belts on the machine, of which one broke and tore through numerous pieces on the machine.
Garner estimated the machine will be down for at least a month as they wait for parts.
With supplies low, the county will be looking to purchase rock from Nelson Quarries.
Garner said regardless of where they get it, they need rock now with the ambulance station project going on in Moran.
Commissioner Bruce Symes asked Garner if it’s typical for a machine like the rock crusher to break down as often as it has. “Go ahead and say it, Mitch,” Commissioner Bill King interjected, saying it was excessive for a new machine.
King said the operator will probably be blamed for the machine’s problems, but assured the commissioners it is not the operator’s fault.
“We’ve run these machines for 40 years. When one belt comes off, it rips them all off. They are big, long belts, and when one comes off it starts whipping around and it could be going 500 mph in there,” King said.
Garner said it was a good thing no one was near the machine when it malfunctioned.
To make matters worse, the salesman that sold the county the crusher has stopped taking Garner’s phone calls. “It’s just a bad deal,” he said.
A mechanic is due to look at the machine later this week to estimate the damage done.
Commissioners viewed renderings of a new ambulance station.
COMMISSIONERS viewed renderings of the ambulance stations that are going to be built in Moran and Humboldt. The county completed the dirt work two weeks ago and Koehn Construction has completed the pad and is now framing the building.
