County crews come to the rescue

This week the Barton County Commissioners approved plans to offer pins and other items to show appreciation for the work that county staffers do, and when that is being considered in a vacuum it may not seem all that important.
But Monday, when the issue was being discussed in the same meeting where it was also being announced that our Road and Bridge crew responded to the Radium Bridge late last week and in less than a day, constructed emergency repairs so the bridge could stay open, the rewards seem to pale.
It’s great that our county shows its appreciation for its employees. That is important, and often over looked, in all sorts of fields.
But that appreciation is all the more appropriate when a situation like this arises.
County Engineer Clark Rusco explained that the annual inspection showed that another pin had failed on this heavily traveled bridge.
The crew headed out and built the support mechanism that will keep it supported until permanent improvements are made. “It’s completely supported now with railroad ties, so it’s good to go,” the county engineer told the commissioners.
As was observed in the meeting, it’s not every county that has a department with the skill to do such work. In a lot of places either the bridge would have been closed or a contractor would have been hired to come in to do the temporary fix.
This is the sort of thing that our county crews do all year long.
It’s good that we are considering ways to say thank you.
— Chuck Smith