The Village of Soldiers Grove will purchase a new one-ton truck and install a new snowplow and box, the village board decided at their meeting last Thursday.
“We can’t keep fixing the old one,” village trustee Shayne Chapman said. “It will cost us more in the long run trying to stay on top of it.”
The village has owned the current truck for the past 13 years.
After some discussion the board agreed to go with the lower bid of Sleepy Hollow Auto over a higher bid from Jones Chevrolet.
Lower bid chosen
Although Jones’ initial bid of $18,198 was lower than Sleepy Hollow’s $19,290. Sleepy Hollow was ultimately the lower cost by about $1,000, when the trade-in allowance and rebates were figured into the total price.
The board authorized borrowing $40,000 on a five year-loan at 2.5 percent interest. The loan will pay not only for the truck, but for a new snowplow and box, which will be installed on the truck. A motion to buy the truck was made by village trustee Bob Froiseth and seconded by Roy Davidson. It was passed easily by the entire board.
The board also heard a report from librarian Cele Wolf and library board member Russell Gilbert on the library expansion project.
The library board decided the library will close for two months to help speed the remodeling project, Gilbert informed the village board.
Gilbert also told the board that the village would have a chance to have trim painted on the community center portion of the building at a good rate and match the trim being painted on the adjoining library.
The village board told Gilbert to get a bid on the work. The library board member said he would do that and bring paint chip samples to the next board meeting.
Wolf also told the board that assistant librarian Erin Martin would hold special hours in the community center while she worked on interlibrary loans on Wednesdays and Thursday from 1 to 5:30 p.m. In addition to interlibrary loan requests, Martin would have new book selections and current magazines available to be checked out.
In other business, the Soldiers Grove Village Board:
• approved a request by the public works department to purchase cold mix asphalt from a plant in Fennimore if the price is the same and it is more convenient than getting the same product in Prairie du Chien
• approved two change orders for the library expansion project-one increasing the price by $3,790 for increased wiring on the solar electric portion of the project, while the other decreased the cost of the project by $1,898 by eliminating the construction of an IT computer room that proved unnecessary
• approved a pay request of $75,249 by Hansen Construction for work already completed on the library expansion project
• agreed to renew a five-year contract with Town and Country Sanitation at the price of $1,550 per month for garbage removal and $626 per month for recycling removal with a provision that allows up to a three percent increase per year.
• approved a payment of 60 percent of a contract with Vierbicher and Associates for revised maps of the village that have already been completed
• approved an agreement with the BMW motorcycle club for use of the village park May 17-19 for a rally
• discussed dates for spring cleanup in late April and early May
• passed a motion granting a picnic license to the Glad Farms Pony Club to sell beer along with food as a fundraiser during the BMW rally.
