Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
Northumberland County council has approved the $310,000 purchase of new sweeper equipment that will offer increased efficiency.
At its July meeting, council received a report from road operations manager Denny McBride that declared Amaco Construction Equipment’s bid as the lowest one meeting all specifications, though the $309,922 plus HST exceeds the budgeted amount of $250,000. The amount needed will be topped up from the roads capital reserve fund.
The report expanded on the importance of sweeping roadways, parking lots and bike paths annually.
“Currently, we have about 13 staff completing sweeping duties throughout the county for approximately four to sis weeks,” it said.
Director of transportation, waste and facilities Mo Pannu, who was in attendance at the meeting, said the new equipment can be run by one person as opposed to a crew of 10 to 15.
“This equipment will add quite a bit of efficiency to our operations,” Pannu said.