Dan Regner is the Mower County Employee of the Month.

A contractor Regner supervises was penalized at Tuesday's Mower County Board of Commissioners' meeting.

Regner claimed the January honor at the meeting.

The contractor was assessed liquidated damages.

With county engineer Michael Hanson, plus highway department supervisors and other employees watching, Regner took the spotlight for his job performance.

Hanson described Regner as a "loyal employee who cares about his job."

Richard P. Cummings, 1st District county commissioner, praised Regner and all of the county highway department for their efforts on the 18th Avenue NW project.

"I got not one call about that project," Cummings said.

Garry Ellingson, 5th District county commissioner and chairman of the board, said, "The project has received a lot of compliments and I think it is a real asset to the community."

Then Ellingson presented Regner with a certificate of appreciation. His picture and name will be added to a plaque in the west/main entrance lobby area saluting previous award-winners.

Regner, a highway department supervisor, has been employed with Mower County since May 1994.

After the award presentation, Regner expressed his appreciation for the honor.

Contractor must pay

In other highway department business Tuesday, county engineer Hanson received the commissioners' approval to seek damages from a contractor who was late in completing work in Dinsmoor Acres.

Final payment to Crane Creek Construction, Inc., of Owatonna, will be $8,000 less than the contractor anticipated.

The contractor was unable to finish work by the agreed upon date in April 2002. Instead, the work was not completed until last September.

In all, the firm was late by 40 days, according to the contract it signed with Mower County.

As the work lagged, the highway department received calls from Dinsmoor Acres residents complaining about the delay.

The contractor asked Hanson for leniency in assessing the penalty, but Hanson said, "In this case I cannot justify leniency."

The project has been plagued originally by delays in getting the work approved and, when it was done, transgressions by more than one subcontractor.

According to Ray Tucker, 2nd District county commissioner, the county highway department was forced to perform some clean-up work in the residential subdivision after Austin Utilities finished water main work.

David Hillier, 3rd District, made the motion to exercise the provision in the contract with Crane Creek Construction, Inc., to collect liquidated damages and Tucker seconded it.

Crane Creek Construction is also the firm doing the work on 18th Avenue NW, a county highway due to be completed this spring.

Dinsmoor Acres will be annexed into the city of Austin after the city is satisfied all work was satisfactorily completed.

The Austin Township residential subdivision improvement project brought water and sanitary sewer services and street improvements to the collection of homes at the south edge of Austin city limits.

Lee Bonorden can be contacted at 434-2232 or by e-mail at :mailto:lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com