By Greg Chandler
Zeeland Record
The Zeeland City Council has approved the purchase of an edger disc and wire brush attachment for its CX75 Multihog tractor, an action officials say will be a big help in improving the city’s ability to maintain bike paths and curb lines.
The council on Dec. 15 approved awarding the contract for the purchase to Brown Equipment Co. of Evansville, Ind., in the amount of $25,995. Funding will come from the city’s motor pool fund.
“This is an edger on steroids,” Assistant City Manager Kevin Plockmeyer said of the attachment, which the city recently tested on the east side pathway.
“We were able to recover a foot on each side of the bike path with this. It’ll keep the grass back, which does two things – it keeps the bike path wider and makes it look a lot nicer. We don’t have that growth coming in … hopefully, it’ll preserve our bike paths for longer.”
In a memo to the council, Plockmeyer wrote that “this level of restoration and maintenance efficiency is not achievable with our current equipment.”
The city had $40,000 set aside in the implement line-item budget in the motor pool fund for the 2025-26 fiscal year, and that the city does not anticipate making any additional significant implement purchases the rest of the fiscal year.
The council agreed to Plockmeyer’s request to waive the formal bidding process for the purchase, because Brown Equipment Co. is the only company that produces that particular edger attachment. “No alternative manufacturers produce a comparable unit that is compatible with our existing CX75 equipment,” he wrote in his memo.
The city does not plan to use the edger attachment in residential areas. “We will likely save it for the more industrial areas,” Plockmeyer said.
Zeeland Record
The Zeeland City Council has approved the purchase of an edger disc and wire brush attachment for its CX75 Multihog tractor, an action officials say will be a big help in improving the city’s ability to maintain bike paths and curb lines.
The council on Dec. 15 approved awarding the contract for the purchase to Brown Equipment Co. of Evansville, Ind., in the amount of $25,995. Funding will come from the city’s motor pool fund.
“This is an edger on steroids,” Assistant City Manager Kevin Plockmeyer said of the attachment, which the city recently tested on the east side pathway.
“We were able to recover a foot on each side of the bike path with this. It’ll keep the grass back, which does two things – it keeps the bike path wider and makes it look a lot nicer. We don’t have that growth coming in … hopefully, it’ll preserve our bike paths for longer.”
In a memo to the council, Plockmeyer wrote that “this level of restoration and maintenance efficiency is not achievable with our current equipment.”
The city had $40,000 set aside in the implement line-item budget in the motor pool fund for the 2025-26 fiscal year, and that the city does not anticipate making any additional significant implement purchases the rest of the fiscal year.
The council agreed to Plockmeyer’s request to waive the formal bidding process for the purchase, because Brown Equipment Co. is the only company that produces that particular edger attachment. “No alternative manufacturers produce a comparable unit that is compatible with our existing CX75 equipment,” he wrote in his memo.
The city does not plan to use the edger attachment in residential areas. “We will likely save it for the more industrial areas,” Plockmeyer said.
