Previous Story
Saipan Mayor’s Office to get a new bucket truck
The Saipan Mayor’s Office has already received its allotted $100,000 for the purchase of heavy equipment and they plan to buy a bucket truck with it, according to Mayor Marian Tudela yesterday.
She noted that $510 of the $100,000 was taken for contractual advertising purposes.
“We are working on purchasing equipment and getting other contractors for purchasing equipment that we need,” Tudela told Saipan Tribune.
Her special adviser, Henry Hofschneider, said the check for the bucket truck is now ready “and the company from whom we will buy the bucket truck will be decided within the next two weeks or so.”
Hofschneider said the contract is now being routed through several government offices.
He said they would use the truck to prune and remove old tree branches.
“The staff is using hand pruners and a chainsaw, which limits the ability to do the work faster and safer. We don’t use a ladder and the staff have undergone safety training and have received certificates so they know to be more careful,” he said.
Other equipment
According to Hofschneider, they are also looking at getting a smaller grader. The mayor’s office’s two large graders are down and are beyond repair.
Hofschneider said they are also looking at acquiring two dump trucks and two backhoes.
“We’re down to one backhoe and in order for us to continue maintaining secondary roads, we have to continue renting,” Hofschneider said.
According to him, they are making good progress in buying heavy equipment using the $400,000 they got from the Office of Insular Affairs earlier this year.
Tudela also said that they are in the process of notifying the director of Division of Procurement and Supply to issue a notice of award to the sole bidder of riding mowers.
“The reason of purchasing these heavy equipments is for our office to do our work diligently and better, so we’re working on it,” she said.
