The Emmet County Board of Supervisors amended its secondary roads budget and approved the purchased of a $265,000 John Deere motor grader that will be used to plow snow.
John Deere is going to help one Iowa county dig itself out of the snow during the cold winter months. Emmet County, Iowa is now the proud owner of a piece of John Deere heavy equipment.
This week, the Emmet County Board of Supervisors amended its secondary roads budget and approved the purchased of a $265,000 John Deere motor grader. Murphy Tractor & Equipment Company of Fort Dodge, Iowa won the contract as it registered the lower of two competing bids for the purchase.
Murphy Tractor's bid was for a John Deere motor grader and the company won thanks to the trade-in it also included in its offer, a 1988 John Deere grader: without the trade-in, the Murphy offer would have been $288,000, but the trade-in allowance of $23,000 lowered it. The alternate bid from Ziegler Inc., of Mason City, Iowa, was worth $295,782 with a trade-in allowance of $25,000, but at the end of bidding, the county saved $5,782 by going with Murphy's.
The county will use the John Deere motor grader to replace its current Caterpillar unit, a piece of farm equipment that some workers reportedly had concerns over because it has joy sticks rather than a steering wheel. The new John Deere grader and snowplow will be delivered in mid-February.
