Colfax buys $67,091 Bobcat for $5,600

By LeAnn R. Ralph

COLFAX —  The Colfax Village Board has approved buying a new Bobcat Compact Track Loader priced at $67,091 for $5,600 for the Department of Public Works.

The Bobcat Track Loader will be used for a variety of purposes around the village, including moving snow, said Rand Bates, director of public works, at the Colfax Village Board’s November 14 meeting.

By trading off the village’s existing Bobcat and continuing to trade off before the warranty runs out, the village will always have a warranty, he said.

The village will keep the soft tracks used with the existing Bobcat because the soft tracks are made specifically for cold weather and work well in cold weather, Bates said.

The base price for the Bobcat is listed as $53,217.

Options for the machine are listed at a cost of $13,874 and include an “option package,” high flow hydraulics with two-speed hydraulic bucket positioning cold weather package, selectable joystick controls, air ride seat, radio attachment control, amber strobe light kit, and 84-inch snow blade and hose assembly.

The snow blade is listed at $2,370, while the high flow two-speed hydraulic bucket positioning is listed at $4,150, the air ride seat is $314, and the option package is $4,612.

The village will be receiving $38,900 trade-in for the existing Bobcat.

The village also will receive a municipal discount of $23,477.

Several village board members expressed surprise that the municipal discount was more than $20,000.

The Colfax Village Board unanimously approved purchasing the new Bobcat Compact Track Loader for $5,600.

Sidewalk

In other business at the November 14 meeting, the Colfax Village Board approved paying 40 percent of the cost to replace the sidewalk at a residence located at 502 Pine Street owned by Tammy Briggs.

The village’s share of the sidewalk will be $1,598.80.

To encourage business owners and homeowners to replace crumbling sidewalks, the Village of Colfax will pay 40 percent of the cost of replacing or repairing sidewalks.

The sidewalk along the south side of the house next to Railroad Avenue “is awful,” Briggs told the village board.

On the other hand, the sidewalk along Pine Street also is bad, so instead of patching here and there, Briggs said she wanted to do all of the sidewalk at once.

The total cost for replacing the sidewalk along Railroad Avenue and Pine Street is $3,997.

Briggs said she was concerned that melting snow from the piles Cedar Country Cooperative stores across the street from the house had contributed to the deterioration of the existing sidewalk.

At some point, the village will repave Railroad Avenue, and then a storm drain will be installed, said Scott Gunnufson, village president.

Drainage from the snow piles is a problem in front of the Colfax Messenger office, too, he said.

Village Trustee Mark Halpin wondered if Cedar Country Cooperative could pile the snow from the parking lot somewhere else.

Village employees hauled the snow away last year, Gunnufson noted.

The Colfax Village Board voted unanimously to approve paying $1,598.80 toward the sidewalk at 502 Pine Street.

Other business

In other business, the Colfax Village Board:

• Approved contracting with Fred Weber/Weber Inspections for the purpose of providing building inspections. The cost of the inspections and permit fees will be paid by business owners, homeowners and contractors, and the village will not incur any cost associated with the inspections.

• Approved a pay request from Oium Asphalt Paving Inc. in the amount of $50,411 for resurfacing 620 feet of Pine Street and 262 feet on Maple Street.

• Approved a pay request from Oium Asphalt Paving Inc. in the amount of $11,491 for removing and repaving 3,488 square feet on East Railroad Avenue, 224 square feet on Riverview Ave. and 1,056 square feet on Dunn Street.

• Learned that from January 1 to October 31, the Colfax Rescue Squad has responded to 386 incidents.