BARRHEAD - County of Barrhead public works department will receive three new pickup trucks later this year.
On Feb. 6, in separate motions, councillors approved close to $211,000, not including GST and other associated fees, to replace soon-to-be-retired vehicles in the municipality's fleet.
Council approved the purchases in principal in December when they passed the 2024 interim operating and capital budgets, with funding coming from capital reserves.
Public Works Manager Travis Wierenga said the trucks were all four-by-four crew cabs, with the main differences being suspension, one being a half-ton model while the others were a three-quarter and full ton.
He added that as per the municipality's practice, they sent the tender to the local dealerships, and all the bids came in over what the municipality had budgeted for.
In the 2024 Capital Budget, the municipality had a budget of $57,000 for the half-ton and set aside $70,000 for both the three-quarter and full-ton models.
However, he noted that the municipality may have to put the tender out to a broader audience in the future.
Under provincial trade rules, municipalities, academic institutions, school boards and health authorities (MASH) do not have to put bids out to a general tender at a $75,000 value.
Grizzly Trail Motors was the lowest bidder for the half-ton at $61,500, compared to $63,080 and $66,896 at Barrhead Ford and $68,757 at Stephani Motors. Only one of the models, a 2023 Ford F-150, was currently in stock; the others, a 2024 Ford F-150 and a 2024 Chevrolet Silverado 1500LT, were backlogged for five to seven months, while a 2024 Dodge Ram 1500 Big Horn the wait would be between seven and 24 months.
For the three-quarter-ton truck, Barrhead Ford's 2024 F-250XLT came in with the lowest bid at $74,954, followed by Grizzly Trail 2024 Motors' Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD and Stephani Motors 2024 Dodge Ram 2500 Big Ram at $75,000 and $76,677 respectively. The wait for the Ford model is expected to be between three and four months, five and seven months for the Chev and seven and 24 months for the Dodge.
For the one-ton model, Stephani Motors came in with the lowest bid for a 2024 Dodge Ram 4500, with a wait time of between seven and 24 months, with Barrhead Ford's 2024 Ford F-450XL coming in at $74,053, with a four to five-month wait and Grizzly Trail Motors' 2024 Chevrolet Silverado 3500HD coming in at $76,500, with a five to seven-month wait.
Wierenga said public works recommended that they go with the Silverado 1500, the Ford F-250 XLT and the Ford F-450 XL.
Wierenga said they recommend the Ford over the lower-priced Dodge for the one-ton because of the shorter delivery time, adding that they talked to Stephani Motors to see if the dealership could expedite the truck's arrival, but the best they might be able to do was a year.
"If we go with the Dodge, we will likely not get it for this season, and we would have to run the current truck [a 2009 model] for at least another year. [The Ford] we are likely to see sometime late this spring or summer," he said.
Council asked Coun. Jared Stoik, a heavy machinery mechanic, for his opinion, and he agreed with Wierenga to go with the Ford due to the shorter wait time.
He added that he had ordered a similar Dodge diesel version Dodge model and had been waiting for seven months and had yet to hear word on when it might arrive.
"When you think of it, that's two full model years," reeve Doug Drozd interjected.
