Marshall County Highway Department Agrees to Sell Equipment to Starke County

Posted on December 5, 2018
Author Anita Goodan, WKVI

Two pieces of equipment from the Marshall County Highway Department will be added to the fleet at the Starke County Highway Department.

Marshall County Highway Supervisor Jason Peters told the commissioners Monday morning that Starke County Highway Superintendent Rik Ritzler made an offer for the outgoing chipper box and distributor.

“They offered us $60,000 for the two,” said Peters. “Now, with us trading them in with Southeastern I think they were going to give us $18,000 for our distributor and $20,000 for our chipper box. I think it’s a pretty good deal to sell with them (Starke County), plus it keeps that working relationship with the adjacent county, you could say. We’ve done some sealing down there in the past so they know exactly what the machines are and we’ve borrowed machines from them from time to time as well.”

Marshall County will be getting a new chipper box and distributor as approved by the commissioners in November. The chipper box was quoted at $313,500 while the distributor truck was at $227,800 from Southeastern.

A chipper box aids in the chip sealing process as well as spraying emulsion and putting down stone. A distributor truck helps with fog sealing chip sealed roads.

Marshall County Attorney Jim Clevenger said the purchase could be handled through an intergovernmental resolution.

The commissioners approved the sale of the equipment to the Starke County Highway Department.

Starke County Highway Superintendent Rik Ritzler presented the negotiation to the Starke County Commissioners who agreed that it would be a great addition to the fleet.

“We originally wanted to buy new ones, but because of the flooding damage and other things we had to delay that a little bit,” stated Ritzler. “They’re (Marshall County) working up the agreement now. They’re county lawyer is doing that. Once they do that, I’ll forward it to you guys and you can vote on that at the next meeting, hopefully. It’s $425,000 for two new ones and $60,000 for those. They’ll last for at least five to 10 years as they’re in good shape. We use them now. I would recommend that purchase, but I’ll know better when we have the agreement.”

Ritzler will obtain comparable quotes for the equipment at the time they were manufactured just to have supplemental documentation.

The Starke County Commissioners will review the documentation at their Dec. 17 meeting.