By Rebecca Dopp
Times-News Correspondent
Lynn Ingram, county road department supervisor, came before the county commission on December 17 to get approval on a truck purchase for the weed department and a dump truck and grader for the road department. “Kevin [Bailey, weed department supervisor] was unable to be here today,” said Ingram. “He had meetings and other prior obligations, so he asked if I would come and present to you about a purchase of a pickup.” Ingram said the weed department had grant money that was already in the fund for the pickup. The cost would be $32,852 for a RAM pickup, gas engine, on the state bid. The cost would be covered 100% by the grant and not come out of the county budget. Bailey would like to replace a pickup his department already has that has over 100,000 miles. “When you consider the loads that they’re carrying all the time,” said Ingram, “that gets to be quite a few miles.” The commission voted to approve the purchase of the truck. The commission had previously discussed purchasing a new dump truck and grader for the road department. “I do have the state bids from Freightliner, so when you approve the budget [tonight], I will go ahead and order that,” he said. Rick Carlton, commissioner, said that he would make the motion to approve the purchase of the dump truck in the amount of $154,715 and the grader in the amount of $278,567 subject to the approval of the 2019 budget (which was passed that night). The commission voted to approve the purchases. Ingram updated the commission on the lease for a new RAM pickup for the road department that had been previously discussed at a meeting. “I’ve talked to the guy that’s over the horsepower leasing and he assures me we can have one by the first of the year,” he said. “I’m still working on the sander to come out of the 2018 budget. I’ve contacted one of the dealers, and I’m still waiting to hear back from the other dealer to hear the availability or how far they’re out on building them.” The lease truck would be a RAM Crew Cab, 3/4 ton, diesel engine and cost $3,000 a year for a lease. “He told me we are locked in for quite awhile at that price,” he said. Ingram said that he had talked with John Crippen, county administrator, about invoicing and issuing a check now for the sander and then holding it if they needed to. The commission had previously approved $25,390 for the purchase of the sander if Ingram could make the lease program on the truck feasible. Nothing had changed from their previous discussions. Byron Woodland, commissioner, said the county had always been concerned about entering into a lease for the road department because they are hard on vehicles. He did not want to be on the hook for damages. Ingram said that the lease truck would be a supervisor’s truck and not haul big, heavy items nor a fuel tank. “We can’t guarantee that it will be perfect, but that’s our goal,” Ingram said. If any damages occur, it will be brought to the attention of the commission, Ingram assured. “I think it’s an excellent approach to saving the county money,” said Carlton. Ingram said that they could try it and if it didn’t work out they could adjust from there. He also thought it was a good way to save money. “We’ll do our best,” he said.
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