At Monday’s Sunflower County Board of Supervisors’ meeting, the county leaders followed through on a previous decision about whether to sell the large-capacity 19-yard dump trucks, in use by the county, at auction or through the truck company's buyback program.
They decided to go through the auction process.
County Administrator Gloria McIntosh indicated that the matter had been previously discussed, but not carried out. District 1 Supervisor Glenn Donald suggested using the auction citing that they could probably get a better price for the trucks if they didn’t use the buyback with the truck manufacturer.
The discussion developed into a long session that ended with the decision to purchase two new smaller-load seven/eight-yard dump trucks and a used one instead of three used ones, which is what Donald wanted to do.
Monday’s vote was 3-2 to go ahead and purchase with Donald and District 4 Supervisor Anthony Clark voting no.
Donald extolled the benefits of purchasing an additional new large-capacity truck and three used small-load dump trucks and reasoned that the three trucks could be purchased for the price of one new truck.
He said, "You're talking about saving taxpayers $250,000." Plus, according to Donald, if they were to order new trucks they would not arrive until mid-to-late summer.
The discussion turned a little heated after Donald asked the other board members where they plan to get the money to purchase the vehicles since they were not budgeted. “Since this was not in the budget, where we going to get the money, $223,600 worth of seven-yard trucks and it’s not budgeted?”
President Riley Rice said they would buy them using the bond money, which prompted Donald to ask, “What bond money? We got that money to fix roads,” he asserted.
Donald then added, “Well, it's against the law to do a purchase order on something and you don't have the money available." Rice maintained that the county has the money.
Then District 5 Supervisor Gloria Dickerson asked, “Where were we going to get the money to buy five supervisors’ trucks?" Donald maintained that that money was budgeted.
Continuing, he said, “Well, I'll have the audit department here next meeting because it's against the law to issue a purchase order on something that you do not have the money for.”
Rice continued to assert, “We have the money, we have the money.” He then professed, “If we don't have it, we can get it.”
McIntosh intervened and said that the board had talked about several ways of going about getting the money for the purchase. Donald insisted, “You have not done it.”
McIntosh stated that the money is in the county’s budget. “As your county auditor, I'm telling you, you have the funds to make the purchase..”
Donald then questioned which line item the money was allocated to and McIntosh said, “That's for the board to decide.” Unrelenting, Donald continued and stated that the money has not yet been set to any particular line item.
McIntosh said, “We have the funds we just need to decide where we’re going to take it from.” She said the decision was made months ago when the board gave her permission to contact Southern Procurement about conducting the reverse auction process for the trucks.
Attorney Johnny McWilliams joined the conversation and said, "That bond issue money can be utilized for purchase of equipment as well as repair of roads. You can use that money to buy trucks."
Donald affirmed that he understood that it could be used for that, but according to him the original intent was to spend $500,000 for bridges and the other $1 million was to be shared between the five districts for roads." You go spend your money on a truck, what you going to haul with the truck?” he said.
Rice asserted that they are not breaking any laws because they have the money. Donald stressed, “You can't spend it until you appropriate it.”
The discussion centered mainly on the re-gen system for the trucks, which mandates that the trucks operate at a certain RPM in order to function properly and if that doesn't happen then the trucks will go into an automatic re-gen and will have to shut down for 30 to 40 minutes without use, which causes delays.
It was said in a previous meeting that all new trucks manufactured after 2007 will have that system and for the type of work that the road managers wants to use them for, a new truck would be more of a hindrance than a help and if the system is not maintained properly it would affect the buyback price. "We've got some sitting in the weeds now, Donald said.
Rice stressed that the road manager needs the seven-yard dump trucks. "We don't need to keep waiting, we know it's going to be hard to find a 2007 truck."
Donald questioned Road Manager T.J. Fairley’s about his immediate need for new dump trucks and why a 19-yard dump truck would not work for his intended use. Fairly said, "You can't get a 19-yard truck down a muddy road, the truck is too big."
Donald insisted that it's spring and about to be summer and the roads would be better conditioned to handle the heavy trucks; however, Fairley rebutted, "What are you going to do in the winter? That's the reason the roads are in such bad shape now because you ain't been able to do nothing to them in the winter time."
Donald returned, "Well if you fix them right in the summertime.then addressing the other members, he said, “It’s taxpayers’ money and I think you're wasting it.”
District 3 Supervisor Ben Gaston concurred that Donald was right about the re-gen system and asked the members to give Fairley 30 days to find a used truck without the re-gen system. “If he hadn't found them in 30 days, order the new trucks," Gaston said.
Rice indicated that if that was the consensus of the board that is what they would do. Dickerson said she was willing to wait 30 days. "It was alright cause Ben said it, it wasn't alright when I said it," Donald stated.
Gaston surmised that the future buyback on the small seven-yard dump trucks would be around $63,000 and if that were the case the county would recoup roughly 50 percent of what it had invested into the trucks.
Donald said it is worth noting that when the re-gen messes up the trucks will not hold that value.
Rice stated that the 2007 model trucks are dead or almost dead and that's why he doesn't want to buy the used trucks because they would not come with a warranty.
Dickerson made the motion to buy the trucks and Donald responded, "Y'all need to do something sensible."
Rice said the truck manufacturer had indicated that the new trucks would be ready in 40 to 50 days and he stressed that in addition to getting the trucks they have to hire somebody trained to repair the roads properly.
