The City of Hartford continues to work with Washington County, in particular the highway crew. It provides tools or equipment that the City of Hartford doesn’t have. It makes financial sense, according to Hartford City Administrator Steve Volkert.

"We do work with the county and they bring in their equipment in certain circumstances. In those cases, it works faster. We help them, we assist them but by using their equipment and their guys who run that equipment, it makes for a much quicker solution to the problem."                                    

Volkert says there are many examples of how this helps get the job done safely, quickly and efficiently. Crack filling and sealing of city streets involves cleaning out debris and moisture from pavement cracks and injecting hot rubberized asphalt or liquid asphalt to block water intrusion, stopping potholes and extending road life.

"We don't have the equipment to do that, so they come in and help us with it. It could be street painting. We saw that recently with the county crews and our crews in an area where we don't like to have people painting for a long period of time because of the heavy traffic. Having someone being able to do it quickly and accurately is a huge help for us."

Volkert was referring to the road painting project on Highway 60, in the City of Hartford. 

The relationship between Washington County and the City of Hartford has made an impact for many years. Volkert pointed out that at the end of the day, their jobs are the same. Each of them work to provide a service at the lowest price. The City of Hartford continues to do it, through working with other departments through other communities and the county.