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MARSHALL -- Environmental Administrator Roger Schroeder says workers at the Lyon County Landfill reported the addition of an excavator to deal with large amounts of material has exceeded expectations. On Tuesday, Schroeder went before the board of commissioners to seek a decision whether or not to continue renting the machine or make a purchase.
Rental of the John Deere excavator (210G) is nearing the end of the third month.
"I'm quite impressed what the staff has been able to do with this machine," Schroeder told commissioners during his report. "In addition in helping with the side slopes, we're able to remove quite a bit more metal out of the loads that come in. A lot of the contractor projects have metal and that's a lot easier to pull out with that thumb (steel claw attachment)."
He said workers are removing about three times as much metal out of the landfill. Large objects and trees sometimes.
"So the intent was to come back to the board with a request. Either a request to rent it, which we could continue to do. We obviously have uses that we can keep using this machine. I think it makes sense to consider purchasing the machine. The rental price that we have paid would be deducted from the purchase price, so that would drive the cost down a little bit or we could just simply give it back to RDO (Equipment Company) at this time end not continue that. That would not be the preference."
Board Chair Todd Draper told Schroeder he also talked to the workers at the landfill as well and received the same feedback.
"I remember when your first request came in. Your request was to purchase a new one or a used one and the board decided that maybe we should lease. See how it works out," he said. "It seems like this unit is a good unit. They like it and it sounds like it's fair, decent price."
Commissioner Rick Anderson asked about trade value if the county would purchase the excavator.
"The machine is a 2019. Usually you're rotating equipment in a seven year period. If we buy this, how long before you want to trade it off?" He asked.
"I don't think the one that we would look at trading off. The number of hours on this machine is 2,400. So pretty low hours for that use of the machine," Schroeder said. "I'm just guessing that we would put 300, maybe 400 hours on it.
Schroeder said the value of the excavator is valued at $185,000. He said RDO would subtract the $18,000 in rental fees, which would put the purchase price at $172,740.
However, Schroeder said just in case, he reached out Titan and Cat. He'd said Cat did not have one that met the county's specs. He said Titan did have a "good machine."
Schroeder shared documentation that showed the RDO pricing and Titan's pricing, which was $176,500.
After questioning from commissioners, Schroeder revealed that RDO would allow for another month of renting and still subtract the rental fees on a purchase.
Commissioner Gary Crowley suggested it would be a good idea for landfill staff to check out the Titan machine before making a purchasing decision.
"They're the ones that are going to be running the machine and see what their thoughts are and I'm sure somewhere along the line, Titan could provide staff to go somewhere (to check out the Titan). Probably just get in it and see how the they like the controls and stuff," Draper said.
"So I guess what I'm hearing Roger is we're going to lease the John Deere for another month and you're going to get a little more information from Case and then talk to the staff and bring it back to the board."