The crew at the Buckley maintenance shop was commended by the Buckley City Council recently for scoring a good deal on a combination dump truck and snow plow.

The equipment was not seen as an immediate necessity, but at the bargain price of $17,500, the requisition request for the purchase got not only the unanimous approval of the council, but also a round of applause.

The city had already budgeted $22,000 to replace one of its two older pieces of road-clearing equipment.

City mechanic John Justice and Public Works Supervisor John Dansby secured the purchase of the 1995 International five-yard diesel dump truck/snow plow.

The vehicle boasts a new Allison automatic transmission, a sand bed vibrator and spreader, air seat, air brakes, rear hitch, plow, sander and more.

The city purchased the rig from Valley Truck and Equipment in Pacific, Wash., which had bought the combo truck from the California Department of Transportation, which reported the truck’s odometer reading on the day of sale as being 109,000 miles.

“That is fairly low mileage for a truck of this caliber,” Dansby said, adding that Valley Truck offered to paint the truck white for free, so it would match the rest of Buckley’s fleet.

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