City approves vehicle purchase for Utilities Department

A request to purchase a new pick-up for Madison’s Utilities Department was narrowly approved by the Madison City Commission on Monday.  

Utilities Director Brad Lawrence told commissioners that he wanted to use money from his department’s budget that had originally been budgeted for other equipment to purchase a 2020 Ram 3500 Chassis pick-up with utility box.  Lawrence estimated he had more than 52-thousand dollars in the department’s budget, and the quote for the pick-up and utility box was just under 50-thousand.  

Commissioner Bob Thill made a motion to deny Lawrence’s request, but the motion died for lack of a second on it. 

Thill also asked Lawrence to explain how many new vehicles his department has purchased in recent years.  Lawrence said they have a schedule for rotating the vehicles.

A couple of city residents suggested to commissioners that instead of the Utilities Department buying a new vehicle, that the money be used for areas like the police department or cleaning out the city’s creeks. 

The commission approved the pickup purchase on a 3-2 vote, with Commissioner Thill and Mayor Marshall Dennert voting against it.