Keith County highway superintendent seeks board OK to buy used semi trucks, upgrade equipment and adopt road-management software

Lede: Keith County Highway Superintendent Thomas C. Wilbur asked the Board of Commissioners on Jan. 9 to authorize purchase of used semi-truck units and to approve moving the highway department onto a commercial road-management software platform.

Nut graf: Wilbur presented the results of his review of sealed bids and in-person inspections of available trucks, discussed optional warranties and asked the board to allow him to proceed with the purchase(s) he recommended. The board voted to authorize Wilbur to complete the purchase up to the amount he recorded in the meeting and asked him to return warranty documentation for final review. Commissioners also discussed transitioning from multiple spreadsheets to a single road-management system and generally favored a lower-cost implementation option that staff said would handle inventory, maintenance tracking and mapping.

What Wilbur told commissioners: Wilbur said he and another staff member inspected candidate trucks in North Platte and Omaha and that one of the lowest-priced units “was rough around the edges,” citing worn bushings, suspension and rough shifting. He described two other candidate International trucks (model-year labels varied on dealer paperwork) with high mileage he considered better maintained and said the dealers offered discounts and some upgrades at no additional price. He told the board those units included features important to county operations, such as heavy-duty rear axles, full lockers and automatic transmissions. He asked for board authority to buy the two trucks he identified and to purchase the optional two-year comprehensive powertrain warranty the seller offered.

Board direction and vote: After discussion about budget, surplus-equipment sales and implementation timing, the board approved a motion authorizing Wilbur to pursue the purchase plan he presented and allowed him to spend up to the figure he stated on the record (the superintendent presented bid amounts and optional warranty fees during the meeting and the board recorded its motion to allow up to that total). Commissioners recorded the motion by roll call.

Procurement and budget notes: Wilbur told the board he expected to use proceeds from surplus equipment (a sleeper truck with clutch problems, an older international truck and a Trail King belly dump flagged for disposition) and existing capital-outlay budget lines to fund the purchase. He said the warranty was offered as an optional separate line item; the board directed Wilbur to bring the warranty documentation back before final purchase of that optional coverage. Wilbur and the board discussed rebidding if the county wanted to expand the purchase beyond the units advertised.

Road-management software: Wilbur also presented results from demonstrations of several commercial road-management systems (he named Novo Solutions and Novotix, among others). He reported that Novo Solutions scored near the top in staff testing and quoted a comparatively low implementation fee ($3,000) and a rollout timetable of three to three-and-a-half months to substantial functionality. Wilbur said the system would centralize inventory, equipment tracking, culvert and sign registries, labor and materials used on projects and would integrate with existing telematics where possible. Commissioners expressed support for moving from multiple spreadsheets to a single system and for starting with the lower-cost vendor; Wilbur said he would provide final pricing and implementation schedules and return to the board with documentation.

Quotes: "I feel like that truck was rough around the edges," Wilbur said after describing a candidate unit he rejected. "They had a lot of hiccups in it." Wilbur later said of the trucks he recommended that they were maintained under large-company service cycles and that the purchase would be a step toward next-generation equipment for the department.

Ending and next steps: The board approved Wilbur’s purchase authority within the stated limit, asked him to provide warranty documents and to follow procurement rules if additional vehicles are sought, and agreed to move forward with software implementation planning. Staff will return to the board with final purchase paperwork and warranty documentation for the official procurement record.