County looks to alternate source for new truck

By Editor | November 9, 2022 |

By Carmen Ensinger

Members of the Greene County Board Transportation Committee met Monday afternoon with one item up for discussion being the bids for a new tandem truck for the Highway Department.

At the September meeting, the full board gave the okay for new Highway Superintendent Aaron Haverfield to let bids for a new tandem truck. With the backlog on parts and everything, it is taking anywhere from 18 to 24 months to get any kind of commercial vehicle.

Haverfield tried to get bids from three different companies, but only received one bid back – from a Mack dealer.

“The International dealer that I emailed and requested a bid from more or less said once they give you a bid it is pretty much null and void because of the fluctuation in prices,” Haverfield said. “He could give me a price today and next week that price might go up 10 percent or more so he didn’t want to even give a bid.”

Haverfield said Center State out of Jacksonville said just about the same thing.

“They said we are out of luck for at least a year,” he said. “We can put in a request for a bid but that is about it. The Mack dealer stopped by to drop off a bid but said about the same thing. The bid he gave us is good right this minute but in a month it is going to have a different price tag.”

County Board member Chris Elliott said the board might want to consider going with something called Sourcewell.

By law, government entities are supposed to seek bids on items over a certain amount. Sourcewell, is a company that takes care of this process for the government body,

“You can buy from someone within Sourcewell and the bidding process has already been done,” Elliott said. “You are still within the bounds of the procurement guidelines but you don’t have to go out and get three bids. If you buy from them it just speeds up the process and makes life easier.”

Since Mack did submit a bid for the tandem truck, the board went ahead and opened the bid. The bid was in the amount of $228,782.

The Transportation Committee will present the idea of trying to obtain a vehicle from Sourcewell to the full board on Wednesday, Nov. 9.

In other action, the Committee approved listing the two old shredders for sale at $4,500 each. They are being replaced with new shredders purchased this summer.

The Committee will also present to the full board for approval Wednesday night, the 2023 Motor Fuel Tax resolution in the amount of $600,000.

Also approved was a County Aid Bridge project in Kane Township for the replacement of a culvert in the amount of $7,998.60. This amount will be shared equally between the County and the Township at $3,999.30 each.