Berne to buy new truck

The Berne City Council heard a request from City Manager of Workforce Kurtis Dailey for a new truck for the street department. They currently have a 2012 truck that has reached its tenth birthday. Dailey’s request has been approved by the Board of Works and recommended for the council. In addition to the truck itself, the Manager asked for permission to go purchase it on the open market, rather than take bids. The plan currently is to purchase the truck from Moser Motors as they have with their last few trucks. If the total price was $50,000 or more the department would have to put it out for bid according to city regulations, as they did with the dump truck, but after trading in the current truck the expected price is somewhere around $30,000.

“That truck plows over all the parking lots in the city,” said Dailey. “It helps out with the cul-de-sacs, the alleys, the senior center, the fire department, police, all of that.”

“If we place the order now, we won’t get it for how long?” asked councilman Rod Mason. Dailey responded that he has been told that the truck would be ready for use during 2023, though this is not a guarantee. Clerk-Treasurer Gwen Maller estimated that it would arrive in 2024. Councilman Curtis Wurster asked if the new truck would also get a new plow, to

which Dailey responded that it would.

It was noted by Mayor Gregg Sprunger that the request for the new truck would have come earlier, but because of the numerous challenges facing the automobile industry, Moser Motors had stopped taking orders for a while, therefore pushing off the request.

The motion was made by councilman Ron Dull for Dailey to go get an official quote for the new truck and plow from Moser Motors and the council voted unanimously in favor. The next Berne City Council meeting will be Monday, December 12th at 6:30 p.m.