When it comes to obtaining a water tank for a township truck, Mapleton council learned on June 12 its best – and only – option was to buy locally.
Director of public works Larry Lynch submitted a report to council on the bidding for the fabrication of a truck-mounted water tank and recommended that it be purchased from Husky Farm Equipment in Alma.
The cost of the tank is $11,733. Lynch sought bids from a total of five firms.
But James Bauman (Gem-Brook) of Woolwich Township, C-Max of St. Jacobs, Reist Industries of Elmira and Vacutrux of Elmira all responded that they either do not manufacture water tanks or they do not manufacture thin wall tanks.
When the issue came to council, councillor Jim Curry asked Lynch if he had considered a tank made from heavy gauge plastic.
Lynch said he had asked about that at a recent Association of Ontario Road Superintendents meeting and learned that type of tank runs about $18,000 and there is only $15,000 in the 2012 budget for a new tank.
And, Lynch added, the plastic tanks are smaller.
Curry asked about the companies that said they do not make such tanks. He said he was “kind of surprised” that only one of the five manufacturers actually fabricates the tank the township needs.
Lynch said he had to consider where to stop seeking bids. He noted those companies make all kinds of tanks, from the type that haul sewage to those that carry milk. He added they are all thick walled and heavy, and he wanted to stay away from that type of tank.
Lynch added the first question he received from those companies was, “Why aren’t you going to Husky?”
Lynch said in his report that when he priced the same tank in 2010, Husky’s bid was only $40 lower than the bid this year, and he said in his report that is “a good price.”
Curry said, “I’m glad a local [business] got it.”
Council then accepted the bid.
