Temperatures may have touched the 40-degree mark this week, but Wellesley Township is already planning for the inevitable return of snow, as councillors this week approved the purchase of a new combination plow/salt truck.
Last month, the public works department completed the tendering process with three companies, Highway Stirling Western Star Inc., Expressway Trucks Waterloo (Volvo) and Kirby International Trucks.
After each company tendered a unit price of $215,800, $218,430, and $219,945 respectively (not including taxes), staff recommended to council that they proceed with the purchase of the
lowest bid, presented by Highway Stirling Western Star Inc.
The truck has already been built and would only require minor modifications to meet township specifications.
Including taxes the total purchase price of the new truck will be $219,598.08, $401.92 under the roads equipment capital budget of $220,000. The purchase will be fully funded from the roads equipment reserve.
Meeting Monday, council gave the go-ahead to purchase the new truck, which will replace a 2002 Volvo with 210,000 km on it. In a report prepared for council, operations manager Willis McLaughlin said, “While this has been an excellent truck for the township, rising maintenance costs show it is due for replacement.”
Unlike other trucks in the fleet, the new one will have an automatic transmission. After consulting four other municipalities and the Region of Waterloo concerning their automatic transmission vehicles, “The response was overwhelmingly in favour of the automatic transmission,” said McLaughlin’s report.
Roads staff have already had the opportunity to drive the unit and found it satisfactory, and the supplier estimates that the truck should be ready in four to six weeks.
