By Sterling McGinn
One of the items on the agenda of the February Newberry Village Council meeting was the approval for purchasing a Department of Public Works plow truck. The meeting was held Wednesday, February 18, at 6:00 p.m. in the village office.
The public works and Wastewater Treatment Plant committee recommended the purchase of a truck after one of the other plow trucks was damaged earlier in the season.
The committee recommends purchasing a 2010 International plow truck with a blade, plow, and spreader.
“We are between a rock and a hard spot and this came up within budget,” said Dennis Hendrickson, village trustee and chairman of the DPW/WWTP committee.
“We sent a mechanic to check it out and he found a few things that need to be tweaked, and they’re doing that right now,” said George Blakely, interim DPW superintendent.
The village had money set aside in the budget for a purchase of a plow truck. After discussion the board approved the purchase of the truck at a cost of $59,000.00. The damaged plow truck will also be repaired.
In other business, the board discussed the issue of residents not tagging their garbage bags. “The non-stickered garbage is causing havoc in our office,” explained Dennis Hendrickson. “We are trying to encourage people to purchase stickers.”
During garbage pickup crewmembers record the non-stickered bags, and office staff have to process them. The board approved a motion to increase the cost of non-stickered garbage bags from $3 to $5.
The committee will also do a study to improve the village garbage services.
Other business that evening included paying bills and reports from village committee meetings.