The Wayland City Council Monday evening learned that bids for a new sidewalk snowplow ranged from $125,000 to $159,000, plus attachments, but decided against taking any action on a purchase.
Mayor Tim Bala said it wouldn’t be fair to the public to buy such a device without people getting a chance to comment.
“Some citizens were concerned about this… I think it’s being fair to them (to delay),” he said.
Indeed, some citizens had posted on the Internet suggesting the price tag for a sidewalk snowplow is too expensive.
City Manager Josh Eggleston said the target date for a decision should be during the council’s first meeting in September.
In other business at their first meeting in council chambers since March 2020, council members:
- Were told by Eggleston that the fire chief’s job is being posted internally and externally, and an option for a full-time chief is open. The new chief will succeed Joe Miller, whose retirement was official July 6 after serving the department for more than 49 years.
- Received copies of the amended DDA map for the July 17 Main Street celebration.
- Learned the pavement at the corner of West Superior Street and Reno Drive has been repaired, prompting Councilman Abe Garcia to say, “That bump was just annoying.”
- Were told by City Clerk Lee Ann Clausen that a total of $370 in sponsorships has been received for the weekly Friday night City Park concerts next month.
- Heard a complaint from citizen Larry Radtke, 624 Locust St., that a tree is pinching off his driveway near the VFW post and he’d like something done to have it removed.
Nice picture of intersection. What I would like to know is why it supposedly cost 63 thousand? When back in 2013 half of West Maple and Vine were resurfaced for 93 thousand and I’ll give it not even a year and it will start to crack and crumble.
Also why can’t the city hook up something to that side by side to do sidewalks? If they plow it when it’s manageable that’s all they need. Also, I can’t understand why almost every drain cover in this town is always full of debris. There’s one at the corner of Elm and Main that you wouldn’t even know is there. These should be cleaned on a weekly basis. That might help with preserving the roads if the water has a place to go.
I think I’ve only seen the street sweeper once this year. The parking lot at the city park looks like crap too. But then again there probably saying they need a new one of those too.
I obtained copies from City Hall of the so called bids for the new sidewalk snowblower. The two “cost projections” do not appear to be actual bids, rather contacts made by a City employee and were from January of 2020. It is City policy to put this out for bid and to obtain a total of three bids. I believe in good quality but do we really need all the bells and whistles? One actually included air conditioning. I am a supporting of keeping the sidewalks plowed for the safety of all residents, especially students that walk to school.
City Clerk Actually raised 3700.00 in sponsorships for the concerts in the park 🙂