By Gary Ogle
gogle@wbcowqel.com
If the City of Bucyrus isn’t guilty of pinching pennies it is guilty of making every dollar count – at least when it comes to garbage.
The city’s Board of Control met Friday morning to choose between two bids for the purchase a 25-cubic-yard packer body. The difference between the two bids was just $42. The contract was given to McNeilius for $66,500. The other bid came in from Best Equipment.
“We’ve had good luck with McNeilius,” Service/Safety Director Jeff Wagner said, noting the city currently uses packer bodies from that company. “That way we’ll be working with the same equipment.”
Wagner noted the city was simply due to replace one of three packers it uses. Street Department Superintendent Jerry Daiber said the new one will replace a 2001 model which will go to auction.
“We’re going with a little bigger packer body so we can be more efficient and make less trips to the landfill,” Wagner said.
Mayor Jeff Reser noted that would also result in fewer man hours used in going back and forth. The city pays approximately $200,000 per year in dump fees to the landfill and that doesn’t include wages to haul the garbage to the landfill.
The money for the new packer body is coming from the city’s Solid Waste Fund.