A CAT-brand motor grader that Stettler County was looking at purchasing has been put on hold for the time being. The decision was made during the June 25 meeting.
Stettler County Public Works staff were trialling a CAT 140M3 Grader through Finning's certified Used program.
According to Public Works Director Greg Jackson, the grader, which has 5,900 hours on it, began developing issues. He noted that Finning was quick to send out a tech to troubleshoot the problem, but due to the issues, his recommendation was to defer actually approving the purchase until a later time.
Due to the age of the County's existing grader fleet, with machines being either nearly new or approaching the end of life, the municipality is looking for one or two "mid-life graders" to introduce to the fleet and reduce the number of pieces of equipment that would be due for replacement at the same time.
"To use this as a stopgap, you're at 40 per cent of the new cost," said Stevens, agreeing with the principle. "It does make a lot of logical sense."
Jackson noted that with the current fleet distribution, every grader is on the road.
"If we have a breakdown, we are on reduced service," said Jackson. "Operations will bring back other opportunities that we may be able to add to the service."
Jackson also noted that he will continue to work with Finning's Certified Used program to find other equipment that might meet the County's needs.
