The motor grader operators that blade Jasper County’s gravel roads are going to be getting training from an outside source. The Jasper County Supervisors have approved County Engineer Mike Frietsch’s request to have Jackson’s Heavy Equipment Training LLC of Tobias, Nebraska provide the training. 

“I think at this point now, it’s a worthwhile investment to get an outside third party’s eye on the situation and get their opinion.  At least we will get a good evaluation of where everybody is at, know where our gaps are at and what we have to fix, and what we do well too.”

Frietsch says the cost is $1,900 per day for up to ten students, and $175 per day for each additional student.

“We are looking at four or five days of training for 18 people. We have 18 blades, so we are going to train 18 people. So somewhere between $16,000 and $20,000 is what we calculated for this training.”

Frietsch says this company has done training for other counties across Iowa and that he believes the classroom and on the job instruction will help establish standard operating procedures going forward, while also providing more consistent work results across the county.