Glencoe City Council begins mulling big-ticket purchases

The price of relocating snow out of traffic lanes and sidewalks was on display in painstaking reality Monday afternoon when the Glencoe City Council took a look at trucks needing replacement.
Meeting in a workshop session at the city’s public works garage on West 13th Street Monday afternoon, councilors discussed with staff the need to replace up to two trucks in the next five or more years. The two trucks date back to 1996 and ’99. Based on the cost of the new truck the city purchased in 2014 and the price of it with annual inflation, James Voigt, the city’s director of public works/streets and parks, said the price of the trucks increases around 3 percent annually. He informally estimated the cost of replacing the trucks with new vehicles could approach $200,000 each.
The council and city staff will begin looking at potential options in the weeks and months to come. Councilors were told ordering a new truck in early 2019 would have it ready for delivery in just over a year.
The city has two vehicles needing replacement in the next few years. One is a 1999 dump truck used to plow snow. It has suffered serious transmission issues. The truck runs rough when it is first started.
“After it warms up, it mellows out,” Voigt said.

(For the complete story, see the Oct. 10 print edition of The Chronicle.)