Mayor Brian Lewis, of the City of Sodaville, donated a used work van to the city to replace an old truck that could barely leave town.
Before accepting the gift, the council held a work session on Feb. 5 to determine whether it was worth the trouble to take on the vehicle. That’s because it was going to need a new transmission.
The 2018 Ford Transit Connect XLT van has about 152,000 miles on it, but only about 30,000 miles on a recently replaced engine. It also has new brakes. Lewis acquired the vehicle for a very low price tag due to transmission problems, and opted to donate it to Sodaville.
The city paid $5,500 for the transmission issue, and Burns said he is already stocking it with work tools.
The “new” front-wheel drive fleet vehicle has sliding doors on each side, as well as a back door, making access to equipment and supplies more accessible, which Councilor Roger Perry really liked.
During the work session, Councilor Joseph Parsons said he would prefer a brand new four-wheel drive, given road conditions in Sodaville, but agreed it was a good deal and a “pretty sweet little van” with its storage racks.
According to City Recorder Molly McGuire, the work truck Public Works Director J D Burns had been using was a 2002 GMC pickup with more than 250,000 miles and a body that “has been Frankensteined together over the last several years” with welded doors and electrical issues.
It was equipped with a non-working four-wheel drive, and more recently the engine had died.
“The pickup cannot leave town,” McGuire informed the council. “I don’t even trust it to go fuel up at the north side of Lebanon.”
Because the city vehicle was nearly impossible to use, Burns had been using his personal truck daily since November, but had been using it for longer than that any time he had to drive a long distance, such as delivering water tests to Salem, “which he has had to do quite often recently getting Well 3 back online,” McGuire said.
Since November, the city has paid Burns $720.68 for a total of 1,016 miles on his personal truck.
During the City Council meeting on Thursday, Feb. 19, Burns reported that the city is looking into options to get rid of the GMC.
“Having a new fleet vehicle will alleviate the need for use of his personal vehicle,” McGuire said.
In other business:
- Burns reported that Well 3 is back online and water restrictions are lifted;
- More gravel and grading has been completed in The Village;
- The council tabled further discussion about setting permanent water rates and water restriction prices for a future meeting;
- The council approved a $300 rate adjustment on a resident’s water utility bill following several discussions on the matter when they learned the city’s meter reader played a role in not identifying a leak;
- The council discussed concerns about a transient living in a trailer in the city’s right-of-way on St. Louis Street;
- The council approved a building permit application submitted by John Kirkman for a pole barn. Councilor Caleb Gay abstained.