LIVERMORE FALLS — Highway Foreman Bill Nichols told the Select Board on Tuesday instead of the 2024 F-600 truck ordered in April, a 2025 model was delivered to the dealer and the price is being negotiated.
“The F-600 is sitting in Farmington up to Home Auto Group,” Nichols said. “They are having a little issue with the price. When the truck was ordered last April, it was ordered for a 2024. Somehow it got dropped out of the order by Ford Motor Co. The truck got delivered as a 2025.”
Like everything else, there is a price increase, Nichols noted. “Home Auto Group is trying to negotiate with Ford to help out because it was not our fault that it got dropped out of the order,” he said.
Nichols checked with dealerships in Maine and New Hampshire and all said the price is accurate for the amount it went up.
“My gut feeling is we are probably going to end up paying a little more,” he said. “My goal is to not pay the whole thing. The truck is in Farmington. I have seen it, so it is getting closer since this has been a two-year project of trying to get the truck here.”
“How much was the original cost projection?” Selectman Jim Long asked. “Are we talking a lot more, a couple thousand?”
The 2024 price was $66,444. Nichols found the increase for the 2025 is anywhere from $8,000 to $10,000.
“They are a hot commodity truck now because (commercial driver’s license) drivers are so hard to find that those companies are buying those trucks because they can have somebody with a regular license,” he said. “Their motto is three yards being hauled is better than no yards being hauled.”
The board also approved soliciting bids for a wheeler plow truck.
Nichols spoke with salesmen on what specifications should be put into the request. He plans to finish the request Thursday and wants to send it to five dealers for quotes.
Asked where the new truck would be used, Nichols said, “We have been trying to keep the new truck in East Livermore.”
“That is the farthest route,” he said. “I would rather have the newest truck on the farthest side. If something goes wrong with the oldest truck, it’s a lot closer to get it to the garage where half of the route is on one side of the garage, the other half of the route is on the other side. It seems to work pretty good.”
A contract extension was approved for Spencer Group Paving in Turner.
“Spencer Group is going to carry over the paving this year,” Nichols said. “They just went up the bare minimum, $3 per ton on base paving and $13 a ton for surface paving, which is pretty much the liquid asphalt price increase and labor increases for them.”
With all the rain last year, Cargill, Searles and Vine streets didn’t get surfaced; those will be at last year’s contract price, he said.
“This year we had to drop Union Street, School and part of Latham,” he said. Shim and overlay of Gagnon Street will be done this year, which will finish that end of town on paving, he said.
Work at the Sewer Department is nearing an end, paving there should be possible this fall, weather permitting, Nichols said.
Asked about sidewalks on Knapp Street, Nichols said curbing has been obtained and those can be paved with the water district project.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Modify your screen name
Join the Conversation
Please sign into your Sun Journal account to participate in conversations below. If you do not have an account, you can register or subscribe. Questions? Please see our FAQs.