Power line project reps visit county officials
Power line project reps visit county officials
By ALLAN TINKER
Power line project managers visited with Sheridan County Commissioners at the regular monthly meeting on Sept 3.
Randy Bassette of Michels Power spoke on the work of the company, the process of the location of the housing units by Target Logistics and the necessity to control possible damage to roads in the area by heavy truck traffic.
In reference to problems with work camps, Bassette noted that most problems are within personnel issues of the work. “They are dealt with swiftly and decisively,” he added.
For numbers of workers at the camp, Bassette estimated that there are 15 men on the helicopter crew from Haverfield, 60-65 Michels employees, plus administrative employees for an average of 80-90 people from week to week.
“If there are issues with em-ployees, Michels needs to know,” he said.
The 250-mile steel mono-poles work is done by crew working with each other in sequence: one crew receives steel, another loads materials, another frames, another is the setting crew with cranes and then the wire crew behind. “They are spaced appropriately,” he smiled.
Bassette also noted that the managers can be found in the temporary office quarters in the south end of the post office building in McClusky. Both he and Martin Ploch can be found there for issues concerning the project and any management information someone might need.
Joshua Hadrava of Tri State Drilling answered questions on the dirt digging end of the project. “We just do the foundations,” he stated.
Landowners get first dibs on the dirt removed from the holes for the poles, then others can have the soil for other uses.
How wet is the soil? “Depends upon the soil and water table,” answered Hadrava.
The hard North Dakota winter weather last year was followed by a ‘brutal” spring, he added. Michels tries to stay about 80 or 100 poles behind Tri-State and they do about 25-30 per week.
The Strata concrete crew will be locating on the Glen Lelm lot, the former Lelm Implement location. The routes north to the line are planned for Fifth Avenue NE, Ninth Avenue NE, and 20th Ave NE.
Concrete trucks will stay on pavement as much as possible. The one-axle, two drives machinery are “real heavy.”
“Speed breaks the roads up,” added Commissioner Eldon Ehrman.
