City Board of Works goes on vehicle shopping spree

Imagine if TV talk show tycoon Oprah Winfrey had been able to attend the February meeting of the Greencastle Board of Works.

She would certainly have been right in her element, no doubt happily hollering that famous catchphrase “You get a car! And you get a car! And you get a car!”

For three city departments were approved for new vehicles in action by the Board of Works members Lynda Dunbar, Thom Morris and Trudy Selvia last Wednesday.

The Greencastle Fire Department, Tom Swenson of the Utilities Department and the Utilities Department itself will all be getting new rides, thanks to that action.

A new pickup truck for GFD, a 2023 Ford F-150 Super Cab 4X4 XL model, is being purchased from Andy Mohr Ford, Plainfield, at the state-bid price of $53,735 ($73,198 with lighting and graphics provided at $19,919.70 via JTN Services, Greencastle).

Fire Chief Rob Frank explained that the new truck will replace a 2012 Ford F-150 EMS vehicle for which Andy Mohr offered $11,000 trade-in value. Instead of using the truck as a trade-in, however, the city is selling it at the $11,000 price to the Russellville Fire Department, which reportedly plans to use it as a chief’s vehicle.

“We got our money’s worth out of that truck,” Mayor Lynda Dunbar said, noting it was one of the first vehicles purchased by the city during her 12-year tenure as clerk-treasurer that began in 2012.

Mayor Dunbar also said rather than purchasing the truck outright, the motion for approval would allow the clerk-treasurer “to see what the options are” for financing the purchase “if there’s a good rate out there.”

Meanwhile, the Utilities Department is getting two new vehicles, a 2023 Ford transit van for Swenson that replaces a 2010 or 2011 truck and provides more flexibility. Swenson “can actually work inside the van if he needs to,” Water and Wastewater Supt. Oscar King Jr. told the board.

Purchase price was $49,999 from Andy Mohr Ford, Plainfield, with an $11,500 trade-in proposed by the dealership. However, instead of doing the trade-in, the truck will be handed down to the City Street Department.

Mayor Dunbar noted that as soon as Street Commissioner Andrew Rogers heard that the Utilities Department was getting rid of the truck, he was quick to propose acquisition since he can put a snowplow on it and use it for plowing in tight places around the city.

The third and final vehicle acquisition of the meeting will bring a new four-wheel-drive 2023 Ford Explorer to the Utilities Department at a cost of $39,229 from Andy Mohr Ford, Plainfield.

The SUV replaces an older vehicle that was deemed too small for multiple employees and the equipment they might to haul out in the field to share space, King said. The old vehicle will be used by City Hall employees to run errands around town and travel to conferences and meetings.

In other business, the Board of Works:

• Authorized change order No. 1 on a sanitary sewer replacement project in the Moore Court-College Avenue-Shadowlawn Avenue area being undertaken by Conexco Inc. A $56,341 reduction from the original contract price of $492,617 will make it $432,275. The change removes $94,841 worth of work on Primrose Lane while adding a manhole and other work on College Avenue.

• Agreed to a $29,376 two-year contract extension through Feb. 28, 2026 with Distinct Web Design, owned by City Councilman Vince Aguirre for city email operations via Google G Suite. The cost includes a $40 monthly fee for artificial intelligence (AI) aspects on designated city computers over a trial period of a couple of months.

• Approved a contract with Republic Services, Greencastle, for sludge hauling and disposal from March 1 through Feb. 28, 2028. The bid was for $175 per load and $25.70 per ton of sludge with a three percent increase each year. That puts the new rate in the $400-$500-a-month area, while the old rate from Jack’s was $650 per month. The city needs sludge hauled from the wastewater treatment plant two or three times per week, it was reported. “We spend a lot of money on sludge,” Mayor Dunbar noted.

• Amended contract services with Align CEC Engineering, Greencastle, through Jan. 31, 2025 at the same rate it has been for the past five years. “We depend on them a lot,” City Attorney Laurie Hardwick said. “We’re happy they agreed to that. They’ve been very gracious about not charging us more.”

• Approved emergency repair work for projects at 50 Frazier St. and the intersection of Toddson and J-Mar drives, the latter being a major six-inch water main leak.

Joining board members Dunbar, Morris and Selvia, along with City Attorney Hardwick, King and Chief Frank for the February meeting were Clerk-Treasurer Mikayla Johnson and City Council President Stacie Langdon.

The Board of Works will next meet in regular session at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 20 at City Hall.