Lind considers purchase of truck

The Town of Lind is considering buying a pickup truck for town use.

At the July 23 Lind Town Hall meeting, Mayor Paula Bell presented the council with a page containing information on 10 vehicles she has looked into. The town’s vehicle fund currently has $37,595 in it, but Bell would like to spend less than $30,000.

Bell looked into cars from McCurley in Tri Cities, Hall Chevrolet in Prosser and Bud Clary in Moses Lake. The trucks range in years from 2010 to 2019, in mileage from 9 to 104,217 and in price from around $11,000 to around $31,500 before taxes.

The council discussed what truck to purchase.

A 2016 Dodge Ram 1500 from Bud Clary, which costs $28,070 before taxes, got some attention from the council, with Councilwoman Rose Elkington and Councilman Richard Baldwin liking that it only had 24,000 miles.

“That’s not even broken in yet,” Baldwin said.

Elkington, however, was concerned that it had too many features.

“It has a lot of whistles and bells,” Elkington said. “If anything goes wrong with those whistles or bells, we’ll end up paying for it.”

The council also looked at a 2011 Chevrolet Silverado. It has 104,217 miles on it, but at $11,251, it is the cheapest option on the list.

Bell urged the council to consider something that will last a while.

“I’m going to throw out my personal opinion,” Bell said. “If you’re thinking about the future, and the repairs and things, the 2019 Colorado has your full warranties and is off the showroom floor.”

Bell was referring to a brand new truck from Hall Chevrolet.

The council discussed the cars on the list for almost 30 minutes before deciding to table the issue for the time being. The council did indicate it didn’t want to buy anything older than five years. Bell will keep looking for trucks made 2014 and later.