The City of Lisbon will be buying a stump grinder after determining owning the equipment is the most cost effective way to deal with hundreds of stumps left after the derecho.
The city can purchase its own stump grinder for a little over $5,000. The tool can be installed to the city’s skid loader and citycrews can remove stumps and replant the area on its own schedule.
“It’s a popular product that they’re having a hard time keeping on the shelves after the derecho,” city administrator Brandon Siggins said.
This compares to renting the equipment at $3,000 a week for a job expected to take 20 days. Alternatively, the city could have spent $40,000 to hire an outside firm which will remove stumps only or $80,000 for a firm to remove stumps and replant the area.
Siggins noted that renting a stump grinder as opposed to purchasing one would have cost $3,000 a week, and taken roughly 20 days to complete, or an entire month. This would also have required the entire public works crew to be working on stump grinding during that time.
Lisbon mayor Doug O’Connor noted that he was in favor of purchasing the equipment, because it allows the city crew to tackle stump grinding projects as they have time, and not tie a crew to only stump grinding, but addressing other projects for Lisbon.
It would also allow the city to tackle other stump removal projects in the future.
The city would also be saving between $34,000 and $70,000 in stump removal costs by doing these projects themselves as they have time.
Those savings will help the city afford a new paint sprayer, another piece of equipment that needs to be replaced in the city’s fleet.
A new paint sprayer costs $28,000. The paint sprayer the city owns is no longer operable after 20 years of service. Lisbon public works director Travis Bagby hoped a new paint sprayer will net 20 years in life again.
The city also needs to get its bucket truck in for repairs to the seals at a cost of roughly $8,000. The bucket truck was one of the pieces of equipment that was damaged due to use after the derecho.
Seals for bucket trucks are expected to last for eight years. The truck was used a great deal this spring and early summer, but until the seals are fixed, the vehicle is not usable now. The seals were found to have failed during a recent inspection.