Editor:

The monthly Perry Township board meeting was held on Feb. 12. A major portion of the meeting was devoted to the county engineer’s paving estimates for 2018 and the purchase of a new snow plow truck. I had some problem following this part of the meeting as the topics were intermingled, and at times I had difficulty hearing what was said. But I think that the trustees questioned if they could pull off both paving and replacing a culvert on Zimmerman (2017 culvert estimate near $50,000) and current paving estimate of $61,375, as well as buying a new snow plow truck, as both expenditures would come from the road and bridge fund.

The trustees, after some back and forth, approved purchasing a new snow plow truck from Kinstle Sterling Western Star Truck Center, Wapakoneta. If my understanding is correct, the proposal price is $149,407. This price includes the snow blade and spreader. Our trustees plan to let the current snow plow truck go for a $20,000 trade-in. Instead of buying the truck straight out, the trustees decided to purchase the truck on a municipal lease program with a proposal of a five-year lease payment of $28,208 per year with the trade-in.

Trustee Tom Creachbaum stated that the lease will free up money and in five years the township will own the truck. The trustees told us that the life years of the truck is 10-plus and that it is totally made to plow snow, having such features as electronics inside the cab and a heated wind shield. The truck has a 330-horse Cummings engine. (Though the trustees did not refer to this in the meeting, I assume that the person who we saw was having a discussion with the trustees before the meeting may have been a representative from Kinstle Sterling.)

The trustees went on to talk about such things as a tarp and special spray coating for the new truck. The trustees approved paving Barrett Road from Greenfield-Sabina to York, including the gravel/dirt curve that was widened, for an estimate of $34,444. The trustees decided to hold off on Zimmerman paving as they want to replace the culvert first, since the project will require heavy equipment to shave the hills and replace the culvert, and this equipment could damage the pavement. The downed tree situation on the Barrett/Bonner Road property was updated, with the trustees noting that the tree is removed. The meeting agenda included a diplomatic letter from our fiscal officer Brenda Hughes to the property owners requesting the removal of the tree.

Janet Anderson

Perry Township resident