The Baxter Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved an $88,865 bid for a new sludge truck for the wastewater plant Thursday.
Engineer Tom Bennett said the city will utilize leftover money from a previous wastewater project. Bennett reviewed the proposals to ensure the purchase aligned with federal funding requirements.
“There’s sufficient funds in the project if you wish to use that those funds to fund this and USDA has indicated that that would be a proper use of those funds,” Bennett said.
Bennett said about $190,818 remains in the fund for the Wastewater upgrade project, meaning the project finished under budget. Bennett said the board needed to make the purchase contingent on final approval from the federal agency for the expenditure.
“So if you do take action tonight I would only say just make it contingent on final approval of USDA for that expenditure,” Bennett said.
Bennett said the lowest proposal came from Freeland Chevrolet for a brand new 6500 truck equipped with a sludge tank. The federal agency required the town to gather at least three proposals for the equipment.
In other business, Fire Chief Matt White said the board received five bids for generators funded by a grant that came through the state to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. The project had to be rebid because of time and price differences since it was initially put out several years ago.
The board also reviewed a resolution to adopt the new Baxter personnel policy.