HOULTON, Maine — The public works department will acquire two newer, used dump trucks to replace the 23-year-old ones currently in use.
During a brief meeting on Oct. 9, councilors agreed to waive the bid process and allow Chris Stewart, superintendent of the department, to spend up to $120,000 to buy the vehicles.
Councilors agreed to use funds from the surplus account for the purchase.
During a meeting last month, councilors discussed a letter Stewart sent them requesting funds for the equipment.
Stewart stated in the letter that he would shop around and do his best to stay at or below $120,000, but stressed that if the dump trucks were not purchased, “our job will be much harder.”
He explained that the two 1995 Ford dump trucks the town currently operates have frames that are rusted so badly they will no longer pass inspection.
“I asked our mechanic to send me a list of everything wrong with the trucks,” he wrote. “After the third or fourth page, I told him to stop.”
Stewart said nothing would hook to the frames of the vehicles because they are cracked and split all the way up to the cab.
He indicated that the 23-year-old trucks the town bought from Maine surplus could not realistically be fixed and that the funds he was requesting were desperately needed.
