Earle council votes to buy new garbage truck

Earle council votes to buy new garbage truck

City wants to upgrade nearly paid- for sanitation vehicle

news@theeveningtimes.com

Earle has decided to swap in its old garbage truck for a new one rather than pay the note off and keep it.

The city council met in a special meeting and voted to finance a new truck for $189,900 over five years.

“I remember a couple of years ago when we didn’t have a truck. And we didn’t have any money,” said Councilman Donnie Cheers. “Now we have a truck and we have some money. So we are sitting pretty good.”

Earle leased a new Freightliner 20 yard sideloading or “one arm bandit” garbage truck in 2014.

The lease was for $3,178 a month with a guaranteed buy back of $113,000.

That lease expired in February and the city had previously voted to trade in the old one for a new truck.

The new truck was supposed to be ready when the lease expired but there was a delay in getting the chassis built.

The leasing company, Arkansas Municipal Equipment, Inc., informed the city that it wouldn’t be ready until June, and instead agreed to extend the lease on the current truck. The city hit a snag though when they were informed by Bancorp South that they would only finance the purchase of the current truck, but not for a new one.

According to Mayor Carolyn Jones, Bancorp expressed concerns about the city’s finances being in poor shape.

“Bancorp said they will not finance a new truck because we have a bad credit rating,” Jones told the city council.

Jones said the city has a .25 rating and would need a 1.25 credit score for Bancorp to finance the new truck which they had ordered.

“They said they would finance the old truck,” Jones said. “But as far as financing a new one, that is out of the question because of our credit rating.”

This set off some confusion for city officials who questioned whether they were obligated to buy the new one which they ordered, or if would be better to pay off the current truck.

The city owes $103,000 on the current old truck. It would cost the city $3,200 a month at 2.19 percent interest for 32 months to keep the old truck.

Councilwoman Jimmie Barham asked William Eaves of the city Street Department about the condition of the garbage truck.

“Do you think it will hold out for 32 more months?”

Barham asked.

Eaves said, the current truck needs some repair work, but is in great shape otherwise.

“The truck runs fine,” Eaves said. “It still smells new inside. Don’t get me wrong. It sure would be nice to have a new truck.

But overall the truck is in good shape.”

The city is obligated under its lease agreement to return the truck in good condition.

The city has replaced those tires, but Eaves told the council that the bushings on the arm will need to be replaced. The back up camera and beeper also do not currently work.

“The camera works,” Eaves said. “But it is broken off the dash and has to be remounted. The backup beeper hasn’t worked since I’ve been here. I don’t know if it is a wire or something. The arm that reaches out and grabs the trash can, the bushings are worn out. It still works fine. It’s not perfect. But the tires that we have on there now are in good shape.”

Eaves told Barham that he did not have an estimate as to how much the repairs would cost.

“I don’t have a clue,” Eaves said.

Eaves said the leasing agent did not indicated whether the city would be responsible for replacing the bushings in the arm or for any of the other repair work.

“They did not say,” Eaves said. “All they were concerned about were the tires. And we replaced those. We took pretty good care of the truck.”

City Treasurer Cynthia Conner said Bancorp changed its guidelines on how they approve loans to municipalities.

“It wasn’t anything to do with payments,” Conner said. “The city has A-1 credit. We were approved for financing in January.

But Bancorp has changed how they approve loans.

They didn’t even approve Parkin to get their new truck. Parkin had to go somewhere else.”

Jones told the city council that she called First National Bank of Eastern Arkansas in Marion and was told they will finance a new truck at three percent interest.

The city will take possession

of the new truck this

week.

By Mark Randall