Blenheim to Purchase New Excavator

By Joshua Walther

BLENHEIM - The Blenheim Town Board met on Wednesday evening to consider purchasing their excavator that they’ve been renting after seeing it perform on a recent road repair job.

Supervisor Don Airey explained that the excavator was used to do streambank work on Cole Hollow Road, where the highway crew brought in stackable stone to stabilize the bank of the creek.

“The project came out absolutely fantastic after three days of work,” he said. “Thank you Andy for a job well done, and thanks to Pete Nichols from County Soil and Water as well.”

Highway Superintendent Andy Graves followed on that sentiment, saying that after they had to clear a water bypass to get into the worksite, they began stacking stone two feet below where the water line was, and the knowledge from Mr. Nichols and the work of the excavator was invaluable.

Now that the rental period is coming to a close, Superintendent Graves explained to the Board that they have the opportunity to buy the 2022 machine for $101,000. 

While the number seemed high, he went on to say that they could trade in their backhoe to reduce the price to $65,000, as the excavator outperforms the backhoe in both hydraulics and the ability to reach into dump trucks for ditching jobs, and they do have the trailer space for it.

“Both the new truck coming in in March and the International can move around a trailer for this thing,” Superintendent Graves said. “That’s two out of three of the trucks that could tow it around, and when the new truck comes in, we could reserve the International for that purpose.”

However, Supervisor Airey was quick to remind the Board that this would be an unallocated purchase that they did not budget for, and while they did have the money, it wouldn’t leave the Town with as much savings.

The Board shifted their talks to the rental price of the excavator, which Superintendent Graves said comes in at $3,264 per month for about four to six months out of the year.

“We’ve been taking this thing out for the past four years, and we keep it over most of the summer,” he elaborated. “This last one was a total of around $21,000.”

Once the Board was able to compare prices and knew that Superintendent Graves was happy with the model, member Renee Grabowski made a motion to authorize a purchase if they were able to negotiate more favorable terms with added filters and a better warranty, with only Supervisor Airey standing in opposition.

“It’s just a lot of money,” he explained once the motion had passed. “But if that’s the will of the Board, then so be it. Congratulations to Andy on his new piece of equipment.”