The Logan County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) learned last week that an expired lease purchase for a road grader will cost District 2 just over $93,000 to fulfill a contract.
During an August BOCC meeting, District 2 Commissioner-elect Kody Ellis spoke under public comments and requested information from current District 2 Commissioner Mike Pearson on the status of a 2015 Warren CAT road grader. Related article: County determining options for expired lease on road grader
Pearson, who leaves office at the end of December, confirmed the grader in question was over the hours.
The lease purchase agreement included a 5,000 hour max or 60 months. The current hours on the grader is reportedly recorded at 7,240 hours.
At the end of the contract, the County had the option of turning the grader back to CAT, or pay the balloon payment of $180,000. However, since the hours have been spent with no formal action taken, the contract is now null and voided.
According to a corresponding email between District 1 Commissioner Marven Goodman and Assistant District Attorney Lowell Barto obtained by Guthrie News Page, Goodman states Pearson brought an expired contract to the BOCC meeting, which was ultimately approved 3-0 by the commissioners, to renew the fiscal year 2020-21 lease agreement for the grader with CAT Financial.
“He maintains he didn’t know it was over the contract limit on hours until contacted by Warren CAT this August when the 60 month period expired,” Goodman said in the email.
Now, District 2 owes Warren CAT an appraised trade in value of $93,394.
The discussion on the topic begins at the 16:30 mark of the video above this article.
Pearson said the current plan is to use $50,000 from the General Fund (allotted $100,000 for the budget year), $21,000 is currently available through his district funds and the remainder will come in with November and December’s allocations.
The BOCC is expected to discuss and vote in their Dec. 7 meeting to finalize payment details.
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