City seeking purchase of new tractor, mower

The city of Vermilion is hoping to move forward on the purchase of a new roadside tractor and mower to replace its current machinery that’s over two decades old.

Service Director Tony Valerius said during an Oct. 19 City Council Streets, Buildings and Grounds Committee meeting that the city’s current mower has been plagued with issues over the past few years.

“The last two years alone, we’ve had to spend over $15,000 in parts and labor to keep the tractor in operating order,” Valerius said. “It’s gotten to the point where I feel we’d be better off purchasing a new mower than throwing more money into the one we have.”

After receiving three quotes, Valerius said the best one from Elyria tractor supplier Polen Implement, which would sell a tractor to the city for $135,400.

Included in that price is the $10,000 trade-in for the city’s current mower, he said.

“This quote includes a new tractor, a flail mower, which is the rear mower, and a side mower that will get down into the ditches,” Valerius said. “It can also raise up and mow vertically, which would greatly help the areas around Sunnyside Road, for example, where you see the brush growing right up to the edge of the roadway.”

The side mower is an Alamo Machete, with the flail mower an Alamo SH88, and John Deere would service it, Valerius said.

Both Council President Steve Herron and Ward Two Councilman Frank Loucka agreed that the purchase was necessary to continue with yard work on city property.

“It should be a great asset, because we’ve heard numerous times over the last few years that we can’t get it (city property) cut because the mowers out of service,” Loucka said. “Then that doesn’t include the lost labor of people fiddling around with an old mower like this.”

He also said the side mower would be a great asset to cut away shrubbery and improve road visibility.

The proposed purchase will return to Council as an ordinance.