Lehighton continues to debate the purchase of a new dump truck for its public works department.

Discussion on the purchase of a new dump from liquid fuels funding was revisited at Monday’s special borough council meeting.

Borough Manager Dane DeWire said that a quote he received came in at $226,219, and added it was the best price the borough would be able to get this time of year.

It was then suggested the borough look to put a $125,000 down payment on the truck from liquid fuels funding.

But Councilman Dave Arndt questioned how long the borough would have to wait for the truck to be available.

DeWire noted that the truck would only be able to be used for salt spreading initially, and that it wouldn’t likely have the plow until late summer, early fall.

He added that the chances of another dealer beating that price by a marginal amount wasn’t likely, and that he was worried that the dump truck wouldn’t be there the longer council waits.

DeWire said the Public Works Department has been using a truck for plowing and salting that’s 30 years old.

Councilwoman Becky Worthy asked why council was just finding out about this now.

DeWire said that earlier this month, they started seeing problems with the truck and it subsequently took a turn for the worse.

Outgoing Councilwoman Autumn Abelovsky then suggested that the borough come up with and end-of-the-year report of its entire fleet of vehicles.

Councilman Steve Hawk said that particular vehicle has been an issue.

However, council President Grant Hunsicker said he felt the time to act was now.

“I think when you have a piece of equipment that breaks down, you need to replace it,” Hunsicker said.

DeWire said that the borough could afford a four-, five- or six-year plan, but if the borough’s liquid fuels is cut by the state by 4%, the borough would have to dip into its general fund.

He then recommended borough council go with a five or six-year plan.

But Arndt said the sense of urgency for the new dump truck only came up about two months ago.

Furthermore, he said he found three other vehicles that were Costars approved, and questioned whether any trucks were looked into outside of the immediate area.

Arndt said he took it upon himself to look for dump trucks and that he found one that would cost $207,427 that comes with both a plow and salt spreader that would be nearly $20,000 cheaper.

He added he didn’t see the point in spending $226,219 on a dump truck that would only be able to perform half the job.

Worthy agreed, and said she also wasn’t in favor of spending an extra $20,000 for a truck that would only be used at 50% capacity

A motion to table the purchase of a new truck pending more information on a dump truck that could be used as a salt spreader and plow then passed on a 5-1 motion, with Hunsicker opposed.