Council OKs purchase of $70,000-plus pickup truck

CHENEY – Purchasing was on the minds and agenda of the City Council at their meeting on Jan. 28.

The council approved a request from the Light Department to purchase a 2020 F550 Ford pickup modified for use as a dump truck and vehicle with which to pull the department’s new Bobcat front loader and mini-excavator/trailer package. The price of the Ford, purchased from Columbia Ford of Longview, Wash. on the state’s motor vehicle contract, comes to $73,774.79 including tax.

According to the quote from Columbia Ford, the base price of the vehicle is $37,018, but the department requested additional add-ons that include an alternative higher-powered engine at $8,910, the dump body configuration at $12,895, a “Protech aluminum 24-inch wide tapered back pack with 4 doors” at $3,652 and the high-capacity tow package at $2,001.

Light Department Director Steve Marx said the truck was allocated for in the 2020 budget at $70,000, and he was asking for the full amount plus additional money to cover the full price including sales tax. Marx added that the vehicle wouldn’t necessarily be just for the Light Department either.

“Public works can use this also,” he said. “It’s very handy for the Light Department to be able to go into smaller, restricted areas.”

Because the vehicle will be delivered in Spokane County the city will end up paying the higher local sale tax rate rather than the rate charged in Clark County where Longview is located, Finance Director Cindy Niemeier explained in answer to a question by council. Either way, the total purchase would still exceed the amount budgeted for the vehicle.

“The over budget part will be addressed prior to the purchase order being issued,” Niemeier wrote in a Jan.29 email. “Steve Marx will transfer some funds from a different account to the capital budget.”

In the other resolution on a very light agenda, the council approved a request by the Fire Department to “secure fire department equipment and furniture” for the remodeled fire station via an interlocal agreement with Region 8 Education Service Center. Region 8 Education Service District is located in east Texas near the borders of the states of Arkansas and Louisiana, with headquarters in Pittsburgh, Texas.

Fire Chief Tom Jenkins said the station remodel was funded in the 2019 budget, and much of the work was done in house to save money to purchase newer station equipment. He added this could be done either through the traditional bid process, where a minimum of three qualified bids would be needed, or a bargaining process with another agency as allowed in the interlocal agreement.

The resolution allows the department to work with Region 8 Education Service Center to obtain the equipment “previously negotiated and secured with another government agency’s agreement.”

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].