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Frugal Phillips earns Council praise
So legendarily frugal was late Chicago Bears owner George Halas that a disgruntled Mike Ditka once told the press Halas “throws nickels around like manhole covers.”
As Greencastle Department of Public Works director, Brad Phillips might like to throw around a manhole cover or two, but it’s not for being cheap. He’s learned to stretch the almighty dollar until it bleeds out 50 more cents, and to an appreciative City Council, that is a marvelous thing.
“Brad, you are as frugal as anybody in the world I know,” Councilman Dave Murray told Phillips during the department reports portion of the July City Council session.
Murray had been reviewing the monthly claims and expenditures, and Phillips’ mastery at doing more with less leaped off the page at him.
“When I review the city claims,” Murray said, “it showed you put a new engine in a 2003 dump truck. I’m thinking, ‘That’s 15 years old,’ and then I asked the mayor what a new dump truck would cost. What would you say to that question roughly?”
That prompted a chuckle from Phillips -- part MacGyver, part pit crew boss, all business -- as he stood at the City Hall podium.
“Roughly?” he responded. “With how we dress it out, about $70,000, somewhere around there.”
Although Mayor Bill Dory had guessed the cost of a new dump truck at a little more than that, Murray was impressed nonetheless.
“So for about 10 percent of the cost of doing that,” Murray noted, “you put a new engine in it. I just tip my hat to you.”
Phillips explained that the dump truck getting the new engine and a new lease on life is a one-ton model. A bigger version would indeed cost more to replace.
“You should be very proud of your frugal nature to keep things going long beyond what most of us would do,” Murray lauded.
With that, other city councilmen couldn’t resist weighing in on Phillips’ attention to frugality.
“Give it (the roller) three more years, Brad, and it’ll be the same age as the incoming students at DePauw,” Council President Adam Cohen joked.
Phillips wasn’t about to be outdone.
“We do have an ‘87 roller,” he advised with a smile.
“That’s older than me,” interjected Councilman Tyler Wade, whose Greencastle High School class is celebrating its 10-year reunion.
No worries, assured Mayor Dory.
“We are including money in the budget to replace the roller,” he said.
That gave Murray more fodder for his frugal fanfare.
“Brad, with some of your equipment,” Councilman Murray suggested, “you ought to be having a conversation with the Putnam County Museum.”
“We have come a long ways,” the public works director noted.
And to that the Council choir silently added “amen.”
“A tip of the hat to you,” Murray concluded.