Ortonville- It was a clean sweep. Well, not quite.
The village council voted 5-2 at their Oct. 8 meeting to sell their rusted and broken street sweeper machine ‘as is.? Councilmembers Dan Eschmann and Mary Kassuba, who wanted to fix the machine and then sell it, dissented.
The council owes more than $9,000 on the machine. They had been quoted a trade-in value of $10,000 if they purchased a new one, but it appears unlikely they will get that much since they are not currently purchasing a new machine. Council President Ken Quisenberry estimated they might get $5,000 for the street sweeper, which hasn’t worked since at least May.
The street sweeper has been at the center of questioning about how well the Department of Public Works employees have been maintaining equipment. DPW Supervisor Bill Prince claims it was well-maintained, but has failed to produce a maintenance log on it.
The council has not yet decided whether to contract out for street sweeping services.
‘I don’t know that we need to live and die on when we get our streets swept,? said Council President Ken Quisenberry. ‘We went without one for years. This was our first, not a replacement.?