New permit approved for hauling road-construction materials
The Road Construction Materials Special Permit is now available for use on county roads within Stearns County. Stearns County Commissioners approved issuance of the permit in December after the Minnesota Legislature took action in the 2017 session to allow this type of permit.
This permit allows companies and persons hauling road-construction materials such as asphalt, concrete, aggregates and recycled road materials to haul up to 90,000 pounds GVWR weight on six or more axles and up to 97,000 pounds GVWR weight on seven or more axles. Currently, the GVWR limit for vehicles operating without an overweight permit is 80,000 pounds. Vehicles operating under this permit are required to comply with individual and group axle-weight limits and GVWR limits set by the permit.
Stearns County’s annual permit fee is $300 for six-axle vehicles and $500 for seven-axle vehicles.
The Road Construction Materials Permits Stearns County issues are for use on Stearns County roads only. Other jurisdictions may require similar permits on their roads.
Builders association donates to 17 area high school technology programs
Central Minnesota Builders Association has seen an amplified level of interest by technology instructors to participate in Tools for Schools, an educational project developed in 2004 by the CMBA to increase the skills of students and promote the benefits of working in the building industry as a career.
This year 17 area schools including Sartell, Sauk Rapids, Cathedral, St. Cloud’s Apollo and Tech, Albany, ALC McKinley, Becker, Eden Valley-Watkins, Foley, Kimball, Little Falls, Melrose, Princeton, Rocori, Swanville, and Upsala submitted requests indicting their schools were underfunded and could use some more tools for the interested students. The schools were presented $18,000 at a recent CMBA meeting, giving the passionate and grateful instructor’s a platform to share their trials and successes in each program with CMBA members. They told stories of students learning building trade skills and showed appreciation for the chance to teach with more and safer tools. In addition to the presentation of donation checks, a Tool Drive was held to fill a shortage of simple tools. Donations of tools and money will be matched in 2017 up to $20,000 thanks to a newly formed CMBA Tools for Schools Presidents Foundation.
CMBA members support this program in a big way and invite the public to do the same. The Tools for Schools program supports teaching basic skills in the technology fields, from construction to car care and electronics to robotics. It provides resources to instructors who strive to ensure enough safe tools for growing class sizes, trips to Minnesota manufacturing businesses and funds to send the most skilled students to SkillsUSA competitions.
The ultimate goal for CMBA is to help address the building industry’s labor shortages, by having contributed more than $92,000 to area high schools during the past 14 years.
If you would like to support your local schools by make a tax deductible donation go to cmbaonline.org/careers-education/tools-schools/
CMBA is a non-profit professional association, with over 75,000 employees in the member companies representing all phases of the building industry. The CMBA strives to improve the Central Minnesota community and grow its membership base by promoting the association to the public, educating the community about building industry best practices, and advocating for the building industry at the local, state and national level.
