Supervisors Will Purchase New County Pickup Trucks

    During the first supervisors meeting of 2009, held Jan. 5, several county officials broached a subject that has not surfaced in almost five years – purchasing new county pickups.

    “Our trucks are five years old,” District One Supervisor Tommy Vaughn told the Herald and Coffeeville Courier, just before the meeting was adjourned, addressing the issue head-on.

    Vaughn said the supervisor’s current trucks will be handed down to the men in each Beat.

    “We get 10 years, and 200,000 miles out of these trucks,” Vaughn said.

    The new trucks will be purchased under the state contract price, which is considerably less that the public’s purchase price for a new vehicle.

    “I already picked one out,” Vaughn continued. “A plain ol’ crew cab truck. Except this time I want power locks.”

    The price for Vaughn’s pickup will be around $17,500.

    The last round of pickups purchased by supervisors was in early 2004.

    Other business conducted by the board included:

    • Approved a bid from Mechanics Bank to serve as the county’s depository. Mechanics bid 2.68 percent, compared to Renasant Bank’s 1.575 percent of interest paid on money banked by the county.

    • Heard a report concerning a broken water pump at one of the two water wells that feed Windsor Foods.

    Vaughn took issue with a four-year period in which Willis Engineering was paid more than $8,000 to perform routine maintenance on the equipment. The maintenance was performed during the time period following the closure of Mississippi Beef Processors and the opening of Windsor Foods.

    “We had a pump go out two weeks ago due to lack of oil,” Vaughn explained. “That, to me, is negligence on y’alls part,” the supervisor continued.

    The county began pumping water at the site last October, and Vaughn said it appearred the pump did not have sufficient oil for a considerable period.

    “I don’t think we got the service from Willis that we paid for,” Vaughn added. The repairs could be as much as $50,000, according to Vaughn.

    “We kept oil in that tank,” answered Willis Engineering Representative Dock Gabbert, who was also at the meeting.

    • Heard a report from Gabbert about two Yalobusha bridge projects that were put on an application to obtain federal stimulus funds. Gabbert said the projects had to be ready to bid in March in order to be eligible for the package.

    “That stimulus money will be here before you know it,” District Three Supervisor Butch Surrette said.

By David Howell

 

Editor