LIVERMORE — The Highway Department continues to have problems with the 2008 GMC dump truck, Administrative Assistant Kurt Schaub said Wednesday.
Highway Foreman Roger Ferland reported the issues to selectpersons Monday night, he said. The truck has less than 40,000 miles on it. There are problems with the wiring harness, Schaub said.
Sometimes the truck is going fine down the road, and then the engine light comes on and a buzzer sounds and on occasion it shuts down, he said. If a driver waits a bit and turns it back on, it goes fine, he said.
There are two wiring harnesses in the truck and each costs $1,200.
Residents voted at the town meeting in 2012 not to sell the truck to buy a used one.
The 2008 had 33,000 miles at that time. It was also at a dealership then due to trouble with the automatic transmission. There was also a problem with the rear end and a wiring harness was chafed in a couple of spots and had to be repaired.
The town bought the truck with all the plowing equipment, dump body and sander for $84,776. The final payment of $17,563.89 was due this past August.
Selectpersons discussed Monday what to do about the most recent harness problems and the truck, Schaub said. In the past, some of the repairs to the wiring harness were covered by GMC, he said.
The truck has to be fixed, he said. Selectpersons will need to decide if they want to keep the truck or sell it and buy another one, he said.
In another matter, Schaub said they are exploring options on buying fuel oil now that the former supplier, Newman’s Discount Fuel of Livermore, has sold its business to Fabian. The latter has offices around the state, including Jay.
Four companies have been identified as being local and have provided prices. Schaub is reviewing those prices and will make a recommendation at the board’s Dec. 30 meeting.
The Town Office and the Highway Garage each use about 1,100 gallons a year.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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