Public Works Truck Search OK'd by Sparta Council

The Sparta Department of Public Works is in need of a new truck, and the search to find it has begun.

Township Manager David Troust was given permission to begin gathering information on a replacement truck for the department at Tuesday night's council meeting.

The township lost one truck to a fire and another broke an axle during the recent snow storm, he said.

He said the department seeks to maintain 10 trucks in service, and now has only nine. The goal is to have a couple of truck in reserve, he said. The broken axle will be repaired, but that truck is only good for back-up service.

One truck is on order, but the department needs another.

A new truck costs about $140,000, and ordered new, could take eight or nine months to be delivered.

Troust asked the council for permission to find out if any leftover trucks were for sale at the end of the model year.

Councilman Jerry Murphy said that would be a good  idea, since it could mean the truck was already built and even though it might be an older model year, a 2012 instead of a 2013, it would still be a new  truck.

Troust said the township has an insurance payment due from the burned truck, and that some of the Hurricane Sandy reimbursement expected from the Federal Emergency Management Agency is to cover the  costs of storm-related damage to the township’s trucks.

Those funds could be applied to pay for the new truck, he said.