By: Diane Benjamin
It’s really rare for Bloomington and Normal to buy the same thing so close together, but they just did.
7/26/2021 Bloomington:
Normal tonight:
Normal got $9000 for trading in a 2013 model, Bloomington is keeping a 2012 for backup.
Both opted for gas engines instead of the more expensive diesel.
Normal is not saving money with the prepayment discount. Below are the two invoices, supporting documents are not in the packets:
Bloomington PDF page 20: http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1126&Inline=True
Normal PDF page 47: https://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/4039
Is Normal cutting corners or is Bloomington buying deluxe? See the options list on the Bloomington invoice. It looks like Normal will need to have the graphics done after delivery.
Note, delivery won’t be for at least 325 days.
Not so sure it was a good idea to point this out. Since Normal must always one-up Bloomington, I am sure Pam is now circling the wagons to see what options they can add to this purchase. She has 325 to add and pay for the extras.
I think that only applies to Uptown!
It really just comes down to what life saving equipment the 2 city councils opt to have on board to save its citizens. They went cheap because that’s what they think taxpayers deserve..
The money they are saving on rescue equipment can then be spent on other, more pressing items , like way finding signs and no bid consulting contracts for Julie Hile etc.
only $9k for a trade-in? $4k for a factory inspection trip? aw, what the heck, it’s not their money.
Bloomington bought a diesel, and the box may be described as modular, but I can assure you it’s completely custom designed.