Union County Supervisors approved up to $70,000 for the purchase of a sign truck for the secondary roads department Monday during its regular weekly meeting at the Union County Courthouse.
The cost of the truck was figured into the 2021 new equipment budget. Union County Engineer Zach Gunsolley has been searching for a suitable vehicle and believes Al Hysell has found one in St. Joseph, Missouri.
“We tried to find it used to keep it affordable, instead of buying something new,” Gunsolley said. “We’re trying to find something that fits our needs.”
Gunsolley said he expects the cost of the truck to be in the low “$60’s” which is less than the $70,000 allotted for the purchase. However, the truck does not currently have a hydraulic post driver and harness, so that would need to be purchased and installed.
“Right now the truck either pushed it (a sign post) down with the boom or we had an old auger — was the old-fashioned way,” Gunsolley said.
The new truck will allow secondary roads to place signs and, with nearly its 40-foot boom reach and bucket, double as way for workers to trim trees that they were previously unable to reach safely.
In other secondary roads business:
• the supervisors accepted an estimate of $9,858 from Freedom Buildings to repair the roof of the salt/sand shed. Freedom Buildings was the only company to submit a bid although a second one was solicited.
• a quote of $36,454.95 for 2.7 miles on REA Road from Lorimor, west of city limits, to “Love’s Corner” to do Maltene-based rejuvenation to extend the life of the new pavement by five to seven years was approved. The approximately $13,500 per mile is more than the previous estimate of under $12,000 per mile due to the smaller portion of road involved after the supervisors requested Gunsolley come back to them with an estimate for two to three miles instead of the 15 miles proposed last week. Gunsolley said the difference is due to mobilization costs. The original cost of the road was approximately $225,000 per mile, Gunsolley said.
• a contract for $480,134.27 was awarded to Cunningham-Reis for the 170th Street bridge project near Afton.