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Whitley County Fiscal Court approves short-term lease for road grader
Summary
At a special called Whitley County Fiscal Court meeting, the court approved a short-term lease for a 2015 Cat 12M3 road grader from Boyd Cat, authorized payment of the first month's lease and any necessary appropriation transfers to maintain road operations while pursuing a permanent replacement.
At a special called Whitley County Fiscal Court meeting, the court approved a short-term lease for a 2015 Cat 12M3 road grader and authorized payment of the first month's lease and any necessary appropriation transfers.
The presiding official, identified in the transcript as Speaker 1, said the county’s longtime road grader “had serious engine trouble” and that the county had been without a grader “for a week or 2 or 3,” creating an operational gap for maintaining county roads. To bridge that gap, Speaker 1 presented a lease agreement with Boyd Cat for a 02/2015 Cat 12M3 grader coming from Wichita, Kansas, noting the lease would last “a couple months” while the county proceeds with acquisition efforts.
Speaker 1 also said the leased grader includes a wider blade than the county’s current machine and observed that “this 1 does have a 14 foot blade on it, though, I believe.” Delivery was expected “in the next week or 2” pending scheduling with trucking, according to the discussion.
Court members discussed procurement constraints and market scarcity for used graders. Speaker 1 explained that used machines in the county’s price range “get sold before we could even begin normal processes” and that new machines would take several months to arrive, making a short-term lease the practical option to avoid gaps in service during storms or urgent road repairs.
Speaker 3 moved to approve the lease agreement and the payment of the first month's rent along with any necessary appropriation transfers (motion introduced at SEG 157). The motion carried by roll-call vote with the attending members recorded as voting in the affirmative.
The court then approved the previously presented meeting minutes and the meeting agenda earlier in the session, and Speaker 1 adjourned the special called meeting.
Next steps noted in discussion: staff will continue procurement actions toward a permanent grader acquisition and will return with any required bids or further authorizations at a future meeting.
