ABOVE: Deputy Clinton Cole of the Martin County Sheriff’s Office speaks to Commissioners Billeye Rabbe and Richard Koons, and County Engineer Kevin Peyman (all pictured), while giving a tour of the county impound building to the board of commissioners and some other county staff on Friday morning in Fairmont. This building was one of 10 county buildings the group toured on Friday.

FAIRMONT–The Martin County Board of Commissioners, along with some county staff, took a tour of 10 county buildings and one county park on Friday with the purpose being to familiarize the board members with the facilities, their uses and any updates they may need.

County Coordinator Scott Higgins said this is not something that’s typically been done before, but it was suggested earlier this year as there are three new commissioners on the board this year.

“It’s an educational thing for them so they can know the facilities the county owns,” said Higgins.

Along with the board, Higgins was with and County Engineer Kevin Peyman, County Building Maintenance Supervisor Luke Cyphers and Auditor/Treasurer Mike Forstner.

The tour was a day long affair starting at 10 a.m. and ending around 4 p.m. On the list of places to go included1200 North State St., the impound building, highway department facility, library, human services building, 117 N. Main and 121 N. Main Street and the courthouse/LEC, all of which are in Fairmont. In addition to those, the list included the Dunnell shop, the Trimont shop, the Truman shop and Cedar Hansen Park.

Ultimately the county park and the courthouse/Law Enforcement Center (LEC) were not actually visited by the group on Friday but Higgins said the board plans to tour the courthouse/LEC after a board meeting in the near future.

The first two stops of the day included the 1200 North State St. building and impound building in Fairmont

The 1200 North State St. site, comprises of two storage buildings and between them there are some fleet vehicles there and Sentence to Serve (STS) is also housed there. The county auditor/treasurer also as some things stored there for elections.

At the impound building, there is some extra equipment like watercraft and trailers, as well as vehicles and other material that has been impounded by the county.

The building has had quite a bit of work done to it recently as in 2023, a new garage door was put in and in 2024 LED lights were installed. The board is now looking to redo the roof of that building in 2026.

Joe Loughmilller is one commissioner new to the board this year, along with Kevin Kristenson and Billeye Rabbe. He said that it was good to tour all of facilities, especially the remote highway shops to see where they are and how they’re structured and equipped.

“We do have in front of us coming up in the near future consideration for getting a bigger facility for the Trimont highway shop,” Loughmiller said.

He said it was good to see the highway shops in Dunnell and Truman to compare that to the Trimont shop.

“The size of the equipment has gotten big enough that it has outgrown that facility. It’s very difficult to park the big equipment in there,” Loughmiller said.

He also felt like there was underutilized space in Fairmont between the 1200 North State St. building and the department of corrections office and maintenance office (117 N. Main and 121 N. Main Street).

“There’s opportunity to utilize those and reduce the rent we pay to have offices housed off-site,” Loughmiller said.

Higgins said that a tour like this is maybe something that will be done as standard orientation for new board members in the future.

“I think the biggest thing we came away with as a board was an appreciation for all of the facilities and what needs to be done and knowing to keep the facilities at a functioning level, we’ll need to continue to wisely invest the county’s funds for upkeep and maintenance and occasionally replacement for something that’s more functional,” Loughmiller said.