Secondary Roads director urges $3.1M equipment budget to replace aging fleet ahead of 2027 emissions change

Laura Sievers, presenting for Secondary Roads, said the county's fleet is aging and singled out tandem trucks and motor graders as top priorities for replacement. She listed purchases the department is proposing and explained the rationale for ordering pre‑2027 models to avoid expected reliability and parts shortages under more stringent emission systems.

"We have tandem trucks that really need to be replaced," Sievers said, and outlined a purchase wish list that includes a motor grader, mechanic's truck, engineering pickup, skid steer and trailer, mowers and six tandem trucks. She provided a historical run of equipment budgets — roughly $800,000 (2018–2021), rising to $1.4 million in FY2024 and varying in subsequent years — and said the FY2027 new equipment request is $3,115,000 on the department draft. Sievers told supervisors that some trucks have spent long periods out of service and that older units have required high-cost emissions repairs, giving the example of a 2012 tandem with roughly $100,000 spent on emission system repairs over 13 years.

Board members questioned whether the new purchases would lower overall maintenance costs and whether procurement should be through competitive bids. Sievers said she has discussed needs with foremen and vendors and suggested a 10‑year rotation for tandem trucks and motor graders. The board directed staff to solicit bids and return with final prices and an updated budget before authorizing purchases.