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M.D. of Taber council approve capital equipment for 2018

Posted on January 3, 2018 by Taber Times

By Cole Parkinson
Taber Times
cparkinson@tabertimes.com

The Municipal District of Taber has made decisions on some of their capital equipment for 2018.

During their regular meeting on Dec. 12, M.D. councillors were given public works recommendations for decisions for a number of new machines that will be added to the fleet.

M.D. council approved purchasing a Cat 10M grader for $412,419 with an $8,000 warranty while the budget was set at $450,000.
The other option for a new grader was a John Deere 770G for $385,856 but council had specifically listed the 870G model as the preferred choice.

“I sent it to Brandt Tractor and Cat for bidding purposes. I specified within each of my emails, to Cat we would be purchasing the 160Ms, and to Brandt Tractor I specified the 870Gs which are all the larger class machine right before you go up to a 14M would be the next step up for Cat. John Deere doesn’t have an equivalent to a Cat 14M which is what we are using as construction graders. For whatever reason, John Deere quoted out a 770G which is basically the smaller unit. That wasn’t what we specified,” said Jeremy Wickson, director of public works for the M.D. of Taber.

A wheeled skid steer was also approved with Evcon winning the bid process with a Bobcat S770 being the chosen model for a total of $65,4000, which also came under budget.

Six new light duty trucks are being added in 2018 as council decided to go with the local McDonald Chevrolet dealership with all of their new trucks.

On the list of new trucks is two maintenance crew cab one tons 3500HD 4WD 6.6L diesel for $50,964.35, a projects crew cab one ton 3500HD 4WD 6.6L diesel for $54,279.35, a crew cab 3/4 ton 2500 LT 4WD for $40,961.45, a crew cab 1/2 ton 1500 LT 4WD $38,642.45, and a wildland crew cab one ton 3500HD 4WD 6.0L gas for $40,207.25.

The M.D. is still on the hunt for a fire crew cab 1/2 ton truck as well but Wickson says they need to do more research on what they specifically need, McDonald Chevrolet has the correct vehicle but the cost of the truck would be over budget.

All one ton trucks will also require additional equipment installed with the final capitalized price increased over the cost of the unit itself.

McDonald Chevrolet was the only company that provided detailed breakdowns for each truck and met the specifications the M.D. required. All six trucks also came in under budget.

Legacy Dodge, Northside Dodge and Taber Ford were all also approached.

Praxair was chosen for the M.D.’s purchase of a portable welder while Banditos Incorporated was also considered.

The recommended model was a Miller Big Blue 400 PipePro with a price tag of $16,920.50 while Banditos offered the same model but had a price tag of $17,879.59, with the budget being set at $18,000.

With both bidding companies based out of Lethbridge, Reeve Brian Brewin had questions on why a more local company wasn’t involved in the process.

One reason seemed to be the lack of an available supplier out of the Taber area, one business suggested was NAPA.

“Lots of times when we have put this out to someone like NAPA they will say ‘we can get you whatever you want’,” said Wickson. “The other portion is support. With this one Praxair, does support that unit and they will come out, they’ve done work on our past equipment. That is one of the big things on that too, NAPA does not provide that kind of product support on this type of stuff.”

A request for quotes for four additional wildland fire skids for Taber, Hays, Grassy Lake and Enchant was sent out to Rocky Mountain Phoenix and Wholesale Fire Rescue with a budget at $12,500 for each, with council agreeing to go with the cheaper of the two options.

Wholesale Fire Rescue came in at $11,631.85 while Rocky Mountain Phoenix came in at $12,196.

Tabled for further discussion was a track excavator as public works wants to demo the CASE CX2500 before making a final decision.

All other recommended equipment was approved by council.

Councillor John Turcato was absent from the meeting.

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