How much for that truck, is a question that the Sunflower County Board of Supervisors hope will soon be answered.
In a special call meeting on Monday, the county leaders decided 4–1 to allow Burroughs Diesel Inc., to come and pick up the county’s 19-yard dump trucks to take them to their facility to be appraised by their mechanic.
President Riley Rice, who reportedly called for the session, stated from the onset that his intent was to simply have the trucks assessed. "This is only giving Will Burroughs the right to come and pick up the trucks and take them back and inspect them and find out what's wrong with them and then he will subtract that from the $87,000 he was going to give us. And then we will decide whether we want to accept it or not."
Rice added that Burroughs had stated that if the county didn't agree with his offer then he would bring the trucks back and he then called for a motion, if none of the others had anything to add.
County Administrator Fred Washington was the first to speak up and stated that he had spoken with Road Manager T.J. Fairley and that Fairley indicated that he wants to keep the trucks. "He said that he still has a use for them and it would be beneficial if we could keep those trucks," Washington said.
Rice indicated that Fairley had also called him about his desire to keep the trucks, but he (Rice) had mentioned the wear and tear the trucks had already experienced, the previous plan to sell the trucks after three years while they were still under warranty and how the county did not want to be stuck with the repair costs when the trucks are no longer under service contract.
Rice said he told Fairley, "Probably the best thing for us to do since we are letting him buy them back is when we let him buy them back just buy us two new trucks and we good for three more years." Rice asserted that the plan was to get rid of the trucks and that they should follow through on their plan.
District 1 Supervisor Glenn Donald, who has previously voiced his objection to the buyback said, “Mr. Rice, first of all, we just can't go around buying new trucks every three years." He asserted that the trouble with the current trucks was simply a matter of the check engine light being on and that could be something minor.
Donald expressed his support for Fairley’s objection. "If he needs to use those trucks, we don't need to keep running the county up in debt," he said.
Donald also called into question the expiration dates on the original buyback agreement stating that it was supposed to have been executed in March. "We don't necessarily have to sell those trucks to Burroughs. I don't care what he deducts from them, we can sell them to anybody, we can advertise them or we can take them to the auction," Donald said.
The fate of the trucks has been discussed several times over the past few months because Burroughs’ offer to buy them back was held up due to the COVID-19 crisis. The original agreement expired, but was reportedly extended and now that extension has also expired.
Attorney Johnny McWilliams cautioned that they should not consider selling the trucks to anyone without going through the proper advertising process. He made it clear that once Burroughs had assessed the trucks and determined the value the vehicles would still have to come back to the county before they can be sold.
McWilliams said Burroughs’ buyback agreement to the county was not an authorization for them to sell. “I know you're not required to sell them to him, but my problem and my statement to you is, I do not think you are authorized to just sell them to them without following the statutes about disposal of property."
McWilliams said the statute does not require newspaper advertisement, but the notice of the sell has to be posted in at least three public places for a minimum of 10 days. In addition, the notice will have to specify how the bids will be taken. He said others must have an opportunity to bid as well.
Rice mentioned another person who has evaluated the trucks, but only gave an opinion of what he thought the trucks would bring at auction and did not make an actual offer.
District 4 Supervisor Anthony Clark questioned why the county was considering selling the trucks when the road manager has said the trucks would be beneficial. He emphasized that plans can be broken and that the board should wait to purchase new trucks.
Rice re-emphasized his earlier point about the possibility of future maintenance costs without a warranty and also maintained that it would be better to have new trucks.
Donald stressed that maintenance costs would be much less than the cost of the new trucks. He also mentioned a list of other items that the county had planned to purchase that total approximately two million dollars and Rice suggested that they take some of the items off of the list and add the new trucks because roads and bridges should be first priority.
After clarifying that the motion Rice was calling for would simply allow the trucks to be picked up and assessed, District 5 Supervisor Gloria Dickerson made the motion and District 3 Supervisor Ben Gaston gave the second.
Donald gave his reason for voting no and attempted to further drive home his point even after the vote. "You've got a discussion on whether we're going to keep the trucks or not, if we're going to keep them, what's the use of taking them to Burroughs and having them evaluated, if we're going to keep them?"
Donald further asserted that Rice was ignoring a discussion that Clark raised about keeping the trucks and Rice replied, "I didn't ignore it, we had talked enough. I stopped it because it was going too far." Donald maintained that Rice didn't have the authority to determine when it was enough. "These supervisors got equal rights," he said.
