HOMETOWN - Rush Township has a brand new red dump truck that will be a big help in maintaining the township's 32 miles of roadway and other jobs as needed.
The Rush Township Board of Supervisors approved the truck purchase for the road department earlier this year. The 2011 Ford F550 4x4 diesel dump truck with automatic transmission, which includes a stainless steel spreader and Western Pro Plus plow, was purchased for $68,783.30 through the state Department of General Services COSTARS program with KME/Kovatch Organization, Nesquehoning.
According to the DGS website, COSTARS is the commonwealth's cooperative purchasing program administered by the DGS Bureau of Procurement. COSTARS provides registered local public procurement units as well as state-affiliated entities and suppliers a tool to find and do business with each other effectively through the use of a contract established by DGS.
"This vehicle will replace a dump truck in the road department which is approximately 16 years old and in need of major repairs," said Stephen W. Simchak, township supervisors board chairman.
The truck replaces a similar model and has the new township logo and website address, www.rushtownship.org, inscribed on it.
"Everything we purchase is through the COSTARS program," said Simchak. "This way we don't have to bid it out. The companies that work with the state are allowed so much of a mark-up over cost."
The new truck was paid out of the township general fund. In recent years, the township purchased two new police vehicles and owns a dump truck about twice as large as the new one, a pickup truck and backhoe.
Simchak said the road crew has two full-time employees and three to four part-time employees. The road foreman is Gene Rutch.
