Grader repairs shelved until mid-year budget review

CALIFORNIA CITY — Repairs to a grader used by the city’s streets department will have to wait until after the City Council conducts a mid-year review of the budget to determine its financial position.

The mid-year budget review is expected later this month or in early March.

The hydraulic rams on the city’s 1995 Champion road grader are in dire need of rebuilding, Interim Public Works Director Joe Barragan said.

“This grader has needed these repairs for years now,” he said.

The city also has a 1985 grader for which it has difficulty finding parts and just received a newer one. There is a need for two working graders and staff would like to be able to retire the oldest model, he said.

City staff sought, and received, two bids each for the repairs and to tow the grader to the repair facility. Only two bids were received instead of the preferred three because there are only two places that can handle the repairs within reasonable distance, Barragan said.

The lower quote for both were from Sequoia Equipment Company in Bakersfield, for a total of $16,820 for both towing and repair, according to the staff report.

Because the account that would pay this repair has only about half the cost, with $8,321, the remaining funds would have to come from reserves, Barragan said.

Using money from reserves requires a super majority vote, or four of the five Council members. Because the Council is short a member at

this time, all four seated members would have to approve the use of the reserves for this project.

Mayor Chuck McGuire said the Street Improvement Reserve Fund has a balance of $200,000.

The project was originally in the 2019-2020 budget, but the Council removed all Capital Improvement Projects from the budget to be approved on a case-bycase basis.

Council Member Ron Smith said at the outset of the discussion, that he was not going to vote in favor of moving forward with the repairs without a better sense of the city’s current financial condition from the midyear review. Without all four votes, it may not move forward.

“This is not critical,” he said. “It may be something that is important, but it is not critical.”

The Council agreed to table the matter until after the mid-year review.