City Sweeper Truck "does not work" - Oxford
Oxford reallocates $270,000 after $150,000 sweeper truck fails for parking garage
The Oxford Board of Aldermen voted Nov. 3 to redirect $270,000 toward in-house equipment and two new employees after a $150,000 sweeper truck purchased for the downtown parking garage did not work as intended.
At the regular meeting, a city staff member identified as Mike Grant told the board, "we also had the $150,000 money appropriated for a sweeper truck. And we tried the sweeper truck. The sweeper truck does not work for what we want to do." He said the funds, combined with money from the existing cleaning-contractor budget, would total "$270,000 in the fiscal year that we have right now that we can use towards this equipment and two new employees."
The board approved the reallocation on a voice vote without discussion of the original $150,000 purchase decision.
The reallocation folds a failed equipment purchase into a new recurring staffing commitment, raising process questions about how the sweeper truck was approved in the first place. The vote went through with no public debate over the earlier spending, even as it created two new city positions funded by taxpayer dollars.