The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

December 1, 2008

Mechanic jobs saved in Waseca

By Brian Ojanpa

WASECA — Shannon Dokken found himself out of a job, then back into it before he could draw a single unemployed breath.

Ditto for his fellow laid-off auto mechanics at Countryside Motors in Waseca, where Christmas came early this year in the form of new gainful employment.

Moreover, they got to stay put — didn’t have to move so much as 5 feet.

The whirlwind transition from defunct auto dealership to expansion of a Waseca tire and auto service business came about this way:

Countryside Motors owners Dick and Gary Arnold announced a week or so ago they would be closing their General Motors dealership, and eight service technicians would be out of work Nov. 26.

Enter Denny Christensen, owner of Christensen Tire & Auto Service in Waseca, who heard about the Countryside situation prior to Thanksgiving week.

“I heard about it on a Thursday, called the Arnolds Friday morning, set up a Saturday morning meeting, and we reached a tentative deal,” he said.

The deal was confirmed Monday, Nov. 24. Two days later, on what was to have been the mechanics’ final day on the job, Christensen gathered the group and invited them to stay on.

Dokken described the emotional yo-yo of going from jobless to job-rescued:

“You go from thinking this can never happen to you, to thinking about drawing unemployment and wondering how to make house payments, to ‘Wow, I still have a paycheck.’”

The retention of Countryside’s mechanics dovetails with Christensen’s expansion plans — the Countryside service building is three times the size of the building Christensen has been in since 1977.

The Countryside mechanics will join Christensen’s existing staff of four full-time employees and one part-timer.

“This is the perfect opportunity for Denny, and he’s picking up some excellent people,” Dick Arnold said.

Christensen bought only the service portion of the dealership. Autos no longer will be sold there, resulting in the loss of two sales jobs.

Christensen said he will close his current site Jan. 2. Meantime, he expects transition logistics to be smooth, given the like natures of the two businesses.

“This is pretty much a turnkey operation for us,” he said of the Countryside

facility.

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