Highway purchases approved

NORTH EAST — The Town Board met for regular business at Town Hall, Friday, April 17.The board unanimously (except for Councilman Ralph Fedele, who was absent) authorized a Statutory Installment Bond to finance the purchase of a new truck, identified in the resolution as a “2016 International Model 7500 4x4 Cab & Chassis with Plow, Wing and Combination Dump Body/Spreader.”Maximum estimated cost of the equipment is $216,763.According to Highway Superintendent Robert Stevens, the town has $91,763 budgeted for the purchase; the remaining $125,000 will be financed “for three years at a very good interest rate.”The purchase will replace a 1995 plow truck that’s in “poor condition,” Stevens said at the meeting.The board later finalized its hand in a shared services resolution for the purchase of a 2015 Interstate Trailer, Model 40DL.The resolution authorizes the town of Milan highway superintendent to purchase the trailer at a total cost of $19,950, “contingent on the concurrent approval of this purchase by the Town Board of the towns of Amenia, North East and Rhinebeck.”Town Supervisor John Merwin said the purchase is funded primarily by a county shared services grant and that North East is responsible for only $346.23 of the cost. The board later approved a budget transfer of $347 from the capital projects line to the machine equipment line to cover its portion of the trailer purchase.