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Commission approves purchase of three new mowers for county grounds after staff warns current fleet is failing
Summary
After extended discussion about frequent breakdowns and repair costs, the board approved buying three new commercial mowers, accepting a trade-in offer from a local dealer and authorizing expedited payment if required.
County parks and maintenance staff told the Board of Commissioners that multiple zero-turn mowers and pull‑behind units in the county fleet are more than 10 years old, are increasingly expensive to keep running and are causing frequent downtime. Staff recommended buying three new mowers; the board approved the purchase and agreed to turn in the nonworking machines as trade.
A staff presenter said repairs to the existing machines showed repeated failures: pulleys and belts have been repeatedly replaced, drives are failing and one mower motor “blew up” late last year. Staff estimated that repairing the aging fleet would cost roughly $5,000 for a set of repairs on the zero‑turns and that two PTO shaft repairs previously cost about $15,000.
Vendor Ken's Rec World offered three new mowers in stock: two at about $12,000 each and one at about $14,000. Staff said the dealer would accept the county's old machines as trade and offered a discount; another dealer quoted new units at about $18,000 with no trade-in. The county indicated budgetary flexibility: staff reported that Scott (department lead) had approximately $200,000 budgeted in an operations roll-over that could be used; within that $200,000 only about $25,000 had been identified or obligated for projects.
After discussion about machine types, site usage and operator training, a commissioner moved to approve purchasing three new stand‑alone mowers and turning in the old machines. Commissioners voted aye and the motion carried. Staff requested board authorization to process a manual check if the vendor required prepayment so the mowers could be delivered and put into service without delay.
Staff said the county will finalize exact models, secure signatures for a check request if necessary, and return with receipts and documentation once the transaction is complete.
