Grant Funds May Help With Purchase Of New Dump Truck

Ste. Genevieve County continues to apply for — and frequently receive — grant funding for various items.

During last Thursday’s County Commission meeting, David Grimes of the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning Commission (SEMO RPC) delivered the good news on one grant.

While the Volkswagen Clean Air Act settlement failed to live up to expectations for the County Commission, a similar act may actually yield some money.

Originally, the county believed it might be able to purchase two new dump trucks as part of the Volkswagen settlement, which was to provide $41 million for Missouri counties and cities.

As it turned out, most of that money went to metropolitan areas. Nothing ever came of it for the county.

Recently, however, a grant was pursued under the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA).

Grimes reported that it looks like the county probably will receive $25,000 to use toward the purchase of a new truck through the DERA grant.

He said it had made it out of the state level, which usually guarantees approval.

“That is out of the Kansas City office, with approval to recommend,” he said. “I’ve never had one get to [Washington,] D.C. and they kicked [it out]. But don’t spend any money until we get the final, formal grant offer in hand.”

The commissioners and county road and bridge foreman Scott Schmieder discussed how to use the money.

Nelson asked Schmieder what his worst truck was. Schmieder said it was a 2003 International that has given the department increasing amounts of trouble in recent years.

“It’s running fine right now,” Schmieder said, “but it’s just a matter of time.”

Nelson asked if the truck’s bed would be good enough to use on a new chassis. Schmieder said it would not.

A new tandem dump truck would cost about $108,000 without a bed. A new bed would probably be in the $75,000 range, making the total cost more than $180,000, minus the $25,000 from the grant.

See the complete story in the June 5 edition of the Herald.