OBSERVER Photo by Greg Fox The Pomfret Town Board discusses a highway vehicle purchase during a recent meeting. Pictured, from left: Councilmen Christopher Schaeffer and John Sedota, Supervisor Donald Steger (back) and Town Attorney Jeffrey Passafaro.

Pomfret’s crumbling and aging fleet of highway trucks is in such dismal shape, the town cannot afford to trade one in when it receives a new one.

That was the message Highway Superintendent Daniel Bigelow relayed during a recent town board meeting. Councilman John Sedota began the conversation by questioning why Bigelow was not trading a plow truck in to bring the price of a new truck down a bit.

“We authorized this new truck. When we discussed it back in January, I asked about the old truck,” Sedota told Bigelow. “When you presented your need for a new truck, you said part of the rationale behind it was you had this old truck that you said was tired and it was going to start costing the town money and you wanted to replace it, but instead of replacing it, basically this is just a new purchase. I’m not sure how that decision was made to keep that, the whole truck. I was operating with the understanding it was going to be a trade and not just buying a new truck.”

Bigelow replied by saying the intent was never to trade the truck in. Rather, the intent was simply to replace a run-down piece of equipment.

“The highway department does not have a backup plow truck, except for the old (1982) Oshkosh … but they don’t make parts anymore for these Oshkoshes and this (one) has break issues right now,” Bigelow explained. “So, if something does go down, we’re down to three trucks. We’re still going to use this truck; it won’t be a primary truck. We will put a salt spreader on it because we have a salt spreader on a medium-duty truck right now and it’s getting beat up because of it, but because of money restraints and lack of proper equipment, I had to do something at the time.

“If something does break down, at least we have something to fall back on.”

The truck being replaced was built in 2000. Supervisor Donald Steger pointed out it likely has a low surplus value. Bigelow agreed, adding he would peg its worth at under $10,000.

“In the past, we surplused them and we got a decent dollar from them because they weren’t 17 years old,” Steger noted. “At this point, it’s more value to us parked in the back than surplus it out for $10,000, if we were lucky.”

Councilman Christopher Schaeffer mentioned two trucks went down a couple years ago, so the town had to rely on the village of Fredonia to plow some of its roads.

“They stepped up and helped us out, but we were in dire straits,” he remarked.

Bigelow stated he cannot predict when trucks will break down. Sedota asked him how much money will be expended on maintaining the old truck, to which he replied he can only use whatever is budgeted in the maintenance line before that source runs out.

“If this truck was used as a primary, the maintenance cost would be astronomical, as opposed to using it on an as-needed basis,” Councilwoman Ann Eckman said. “If it goes down and the cost is prohibitive, it won’t be fixed. At that point, it will be scrap. But right now, hopefully the maintenance cost will not be overwhelming because it’s not going to be used on a regular basis.”

“These trucks don’t last forever,” Bigelow pointed out. “We’ll just run it until it quits.”

Sedota finished the discussion by saying he believes this is something that should be clearer in the future.

Also during the meeting, the board rescinded a resolution to purchase a highway truck, as the contractor was not authorized to execute a bid through Onondaga County, which allows other municipalities in New York state to take advantage of its contractual pricing. Instead, the board unanimously approved the purchase of a 2018 Freightliner, together with the optional equipment, extended warranty and the Everest Plow Package, for a total sum of $215,776 from Mohawk Valley Freightliner. Mohawk Valley is an authorized vendor under the Onondaga County contract.

Councilman Brett Christy was not present to vote.

The board will take up the issue of financing for the truck at a future date.