By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
Dowagiac City Council Monday night accepted a $27,900 bid to buy a 2003 Vermeer BC1400 trailer-mounted drum brush chipper from Vermeer of Michigan in Marne.
Council members also authorized the trade-in of a 1993 Vermeer chipper to Vermeer for $10,000, so the total purchase price is $17,900.
The brush chipper will be used in the Department of Public Services.
The 1993 Vermeer chipper has reached the end of its useful life and was scheduled for replacement this year, according to City Manager William H. Nelson Jr.
City officials budgeted $32,864 for the purchase. Four businesses submitted bids.
City crews field-tested the equipment and preferred the Vermeer chipper based on its usability and safety features.
Another vendor offered a chipper for $31,295, but with a $14,000 trade-in, the total price was less, $17,295.
But DPS Director Donald N. Hallowell noted several exceptions to the specifications with the low bid: it exceeded the quoted 6,600-pound maximum; it has a smaller gas tank than specified; it was for a disc-cutting system instead of a drum-cutting system; it quoted horizontal wheels on the hydraulic infeed system instead of vertical rollers; it did not have a long enough feed table; and it does not have clutch linkages incorporated into the throttle system.
Hallowell said Vermeer was the only bidder that quoted a bottom feed stop bar, which halts feed rollers when pressed.
Council members during a 15-minute meeting also authorized Finance Director David Pilot to pay out $781,039.44 - $675,320.02 for bills and $105,719.24 for payroll.
City Attorney Mark A. Westrate and Mayor Pro Tem Wayne D. Comstock were absent.