Up until last week, Decatur County Public Works had two semi-trailer trucks at is disposal: a MAC truck with 733,000 miles and a GMC truck with more than a million miles.
The semi trucks are used for several purposes, including hauling the road department’s heavy equipment across the county and hauling away large trees and limbs that fall onto county roadways (those trees are taken to the county’s landfill on U.S. 27 South near Attapulgus.) The trucks have also been used to haul away containers of leachate water (water that seeps out of trash deposited at the landfill) to the county’s wastewater treatment plant off U.S. 27 North.
According to Decatur County Public Works Superintendent Dennis Medley, the GMC truck which is being retired was purchased used by Decatur County in 1998; it had previously been used by the Georgia Forestry Department.
“It simply was not road worthy any more and the county has spent more than $19,000 on its maintenance and upkeep,” Medley told Decatur County commissioners. “The truck isn’t tore up; it’s just wore out.”
Medley said he and other county officials looked at used trucks for sale in Tallahassee, Fla., and Albany, Ga. They even received a for-sale offer from a local contractor, however his truck was about $11,000 more expensive than a truck that was located in Albany, according to Medley.
At Medley’s recommendation, county commissioners unanimously approved the purchase of a $42,000 semi-trailer truck from Spring Creek AG of Albany. Medley said the truck has 407,000 miles and had been used to haul peanuts in Dougherty County.
“A new semi with the specifications we currently use would cost around $200,000 new, so we feel fortunate to have found one used in good condition,” Medley said.
The GMC Brigadier with one million miles on it still has some value, though: Medley suggested listing it for sale on a government surplus auction website.
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