The Sherburne County Fairgrounds is getting another new building.
Last month, the county board approved the construction of a new 80’x40’ horse shelter.
Tuesday, the board approved the construction of a new 30’x20’ portable Boy Scout food booth.
Steve Becker of the Sherburne County Ag Society said the building should cost no more than $20,000. Construction will be funded by the Elk River Lions.
Becker said the existing structure has dry rot and because of shifting of the surrounding ground, it is difficult to open the doors.
“It’s not healthy anymore to cook food in it,” he said. “We want to replace it with a portable building.”
Becker said there are a number of reasons to make it portable. One reason is the potential relocation of the fairgrounds to Becker.
“Our recommendation is to build it so it can be moved down the road. We don’t know what the future holds for that location,” he said. “We also may want to move it on-site.”
He said some of the existing buildings were just erected because they fit in an area.
“There isn’t always consideration of how things flow. If we find it needs to go in some other corner of the property, with some effort it can be moved,” he said.
One way to make it portable is to bolt the entire structure to the concrete foundation and put an overhead door on one side so a trailer can be backed in.
“It can be sured up and unpinned from the foundation and just moved away,” he said. “Another way is to build a removable wall on one side where you can remove that section.”
The final design is not yet completed, said Becker. It still has to be certified by a licensed architect.
But Becker said they expect to have the building completed before the county fair in July.
Other Business
In other action the board:
• Approved an agreement allowing Tri-CAP to lease office space in the assessor’s office for a one-year lump sum payment of $1,008;
• Appointed Cindy Rohde as the county’s citizen representative on the Great River Regional Library Board of Trustees;
• Approved a transfer of $7,800 in public safety funds to the sheriff’s office for a case manager/investigator for trials to assist victims and witnesses;
• Approved an agreement with Dominion Voting Systems to purchase election equipment at a cost of $480,460;
• Approved th expenditure of $114,761.02 to remodel the sheriff’s office emergency operations center;
• Approved the purchase of 32 800 MHz radios from Motorola for the sheriff’s department at a cost of $106,464.96, with 17 of the old radios being used in safe rooms throughout the Government Center;
• Approved the annual County Boat and Water Safety Grant Agreement in the amount of $9,528;
• Awarded the contract to replace the Co. Rd. 53 bridge over the Elk River to Structural Specialties at $835,622.
