By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
The price to clean sewers and fix water main breaks is pricey, and the
Great Bend City Council found out the cost is only going up. Public Works
Director Jason Cauley went before the council last week asking to purchase a
2023 Vac-Con Combination truck for $514,216 from Red Equipment LLC. The truck
can vacuum both wet and dry materials and release water pressure to flush out
debris lodged in a pipe.
Cauley said the two combination vacuum trucks the city currently has are either
getting repaired or need to be repaired.
"The 2001 truck we do have, it's our oldest model, the fan has delaminated making the truck unusable," said Cauley. "That truck is sitting unused at the moment and has for several months. The other truck broke springs on the night we had two water breaks. We had a loaner truck until it got too cold for a vacuum truck to be out there."
Parts for replacement on Great Bend’s oldest combination truck would cost
$50,000.
Cauley said the city has FEMA reimbursement funds and unencumbered funds
in the street/storm/sewer fund that would provide a down payment of $352,505.
Cauley suggested a lease-to-purchase method from First Kansas Bank for the
remaining $167,710 expense at four years for 4% interest.
The city council and Mayor Cody Schmidt were not in favor of the large purchase
on short notice.
"I was never aware of anything to do with these trucks," said Schmidt. "I did not know we were even looking at the truck. $50,000 to repair is pretty cheap when we you look at $514,000."
With the way prices are increasing on many items, including trucks, the governing body was informed the 4% interest over four years with the lease-to-purchase plan would probably be better than buying later.
The city council voted to table the discussion until the Jan. 16,
2023 meeting to get more research. In the meantime, the governing body
suggested to Cauley to make the $50,000 repair rather than buy new.