Cleaner streets in Washburn's future
By Danielle Abbott
"Many people don’t realize when the streets get swept because of our uneven streets and that’s the perception that people see," said Larry Thomas, Washburn City Maintenance Supervisor. For months the city has been discussing an upgrade in their street sweeping machinery. During Monday’s City Commission meeting, the members agreed on a solution. The commission viewed the details of commissioner Kim Klaudt’s recent verbal bid for a $70,000 Unimog sweeper package on the city’s behalf. Along with the $70,000 worth of machinery, the city would also be responsible for the $2,200 cost of trucking the machinery here, and $3,000 for outfitting and prepping the sweeper, which could be done in Washburn. Klaudt explained that the city had originally looked into a sweeper with a snow blower, but determined the city did not need the snow blower attachment. Thomas and Klaudt had looked into other street sweepers, to use as a comparison with the Unimog unit. They found a ten-year-old sweeper for $50,000 and a five-year-old sweeper for $65,000. New sweepers are estimated at $90,000. The sweeper that the city is looking into purchasing is not new, but the machine only has approximately 10 hours of working time on it.
