Mayor Neil Driscoll was not pleased recently when the township’s director of public works brought a roadside mower attachment tender to council.
“It was approved in the budget to purchase this piece of equipment – why are we waiting until now to order to buy when the season started a week ago?” Driscoll asked director of public works Sam Mattina at the June 26 council meeting.
“It’s a matter of volume, staffing volume and workload,” Mattina said.
“It’s on my work plan and as you can see from my capital list, there’s quite a few items still on the list that need to be accomplished and we’re working as quickly as we can to do that.”
Driscoll was not satisfied.
“I appreciate the workload but I also appreciate that we have to understand when things have to get done,” he said.
“And coming up to us a week after the season (starts) with a broken mower that can’t finish the job – I’m sorry as a business owner I can’t accept that. I hope we don’t see a lot of that.”
The roadside mower attachment tender was awarded to ESM Farm Equipment Ltd. for $23,750. The tender was for a Votex Jumbo 230 flail mower, which is an attachment for the municipality’s current 2014 New Holland TV060 tractor.
This amount is below the $28,060 approved in the 2018 capital budget.
“The existing flail mower attachment that is being replaced is of vintage age and in extremely deteriorated condition,” states Mattina’s report to council. “The unit will be sold at auction for the best price achievable.”
Councillor Lori Woodham asked if the mower was worth anything.
“I’m sure the old piece has some residual value,” Mattina said. “It could be put on auction.
“Whatever the market will bring is certainly usable.”
The mower is used to cut about 780km of roadside grass, two times a year.
“This maintenance is essential to ensure the safety for our motoring public,” Mattina wrote.
The municipality received three quotations for the equipment:
– ESM Farm Equipment Ltd. for $23,750 plus HST;
– CM Equipment for $25,382 plus HST; and
– Colvoy Equipment for $24,096 plus HST.
