Three Cookeville Departments Looking To Replace Several Vehicles

Cookeville’s Electric, Gas and Water Quality Control Departments are set to purchase 10 new vehicles to replace old ones in their fleet.

Water and Sewer Department Director Ronnie Kelly said they try to cycle through their vehicles to ensure maximum use.

“We’ve done some analysis on warranties, how long the vehicles last before they have major problems,” Kelly said. “You try to keep it in that warranty period, then we’ll roll them out. You try to do that with the ones that are on the road all the time.”

Kelly said that they might not get the vehicles until spring. With car dealerships facing difficulties in product supply, Kelly said they’re hoping to get their orders in as soon as possible to make sure they get their replacements as soon as possible.

“If you look around car lots around the city, there is not a lot of inventory,” Kelly said. “A lot of them are backed up because of the chip issue (…) I don’t think it’s an isolated issue with Cookeville.”

Kelly said with vehicles that weren’t always on the road, they typically held them back to do yardwork until they eventually needed to be taken out of the system.

Cookeville City Council will vote to award a bid using a statewide contract at their meeting Thursday night. Kelly said in the work session Monday night that all items were budgeted through the contract.