BARRHEAD - The County of Barrhead has decided to enter into a three-year contract with Western Star North to purchase three large trucks that the municipality will use as snowplows.
County councillors approved the recommendation from public works during their Feb. 21 meeting.
It is worth mentioning that administration will bring back the final pricing to council for their approval.
Public works manager Travis Wierenga noted that initially, the plan was to come to council to approve the purchase of a tandem axle plow truck that they identified in the 2024 Capital budget to replace an ageing 2013 International Workstar 7600 plow truck. A total of adding $249,000 was set aside for the purchase.
Due to the backlog of orders, he said, public works suggested that they put their order in because of the long lead time needed for large, commercial vehicles, which ranges from a year and a half to three years.
Wierenga said as part of the county's 10-year capital plan, public works plans to retire two other large trucks, a 2013 International 7500 and a 2010 Peterbilt 267.
The Peterbilt is one of the county's gravel trucks responsible for hauling most of the municipality's private gravel sales.
The municipality put out the tender for the truck on Feb. 2 and received four bids from First Truck Centre, Edmonton Kenworth, Diamond Truck Centres, and Western Star North.
The lowest bid for a fully outfitted truck with a plow set up was sent in by Diamond Truck Centres for an International HV613 SBA at $331,636. The highest was Edmonton Kenworth's Kenworth T480V at $392,092, while Western Star North and First Truck Centre at $366,613 for a Western Star 47X SB and $374,388 for a Freightliner 114SD Plus.
The county also attempted to get bids from Freightliner and Mack dealerships they would not commit to pricing because of a lack of availability and long waiting lists.
"All the prices provided by the vendors are subject to change due to exchange rates or other economic factors, and they will only be finalized at the order at the factory," Wierenga said, noting most dealerships, but get their final allotments in September for the following year. "Additional charges may be added when it is delivered."
Due to the uncertainty in pricing, public works used a point system to score the bids based on basic equipment specifications, special provisions on warranty and delivery, service provided, past and present resale market value and price. Price and service are weighted higher than the other categories, with a possible 50 and 20 points up for grabs, compared to 10 for the other categories.
Western North Star topped the list at 84.2, followed by First Truck Centre at 77.4, Diamond Truck Centre at 74 and Edmonton Kenworth at 70.8.
Coun. Walter Preugschas asked if the municipality had experience with all the manufacturers included in the bids.
Wierenega said yes, adding the majority of the county's big truck fleet was mostly Western Star and Internationals, though they have some Kenworth and Freightliner trucks.
He added they also talked with the Town of Barrhead's public works department for their opinion, noting their fleet consists of mostly Freightliner.
Deputy reeve Marvin Schatz asked why the Diamond Truck Centre and the International brand scored so low, considering their price was the best.
Wierenga said they scored poorly due to service, which he characterized as "being very bad."
"Plus Internationals have had some major engine problems. The Workstar engine has been especially problematic, and there has been the source of some class action (lawsuits)," he said. "And dealing with Diamond for our International trucks, they won't give any help, and say bring it to the city. They don't offer any of the standard stuff and are just very unhelpful."
Wierenga noted due to their poor service, public works deals extensively with a third-party shop that has experience with International machinery.
"The other issue being is that one of our local businesses that does heavy truck repair refuses to work on Internationals," he said.
Wierenga added that public works eliminated Edmonton Kenworth from the competition as the truck they submitted in their bid did not meet the municipality's horsepower requirement.
He also suggested that the municipality gets in the queue for their 2025 heavy truck procurement due to the timelines in getting a vehicle to their doorstep, noting the earliest delivery time three of the four vendors offered was the third quarter of 2024.
"The maintenance costs keep going up the longer we keep those trucks and the higher risk of major failures, such as engines or transmissions," Wierenga said.
He added that putting their name in the queue does not mean they were committed to buying the two other trucks, saying they could take themselves off the list at anytime prior to final ordering without penalty.
However, Wierenga suggested it would be doubtful that the market would soften and or the backlog get shorter.
"Talking to the manufacturers, it will be at least three years before they get caught up," he said.
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
