Snow blower replacement approved by Winthrop Council

by Michael Mattison
The Winthrop City Council approved the purchase of a snowblower at its regular meeting on February 2.
The purchase cost is $55,000. It was formerly used by Carver County and has 871 hours of use. Public works has inspected the unit, changed oil on it and looked at the hydraulics. The attachment connects directly to the payloader.
There will need to be a few modifications made that will, be an additional $2,000.
As a comparison, a couple of years ago, Arlington bought a machine for $300,000.
The current unit is from 1968. “It does a great job of handling really light snow. It does okay when we get snows that are not heavy but, as soon as it gets icy and choppy, we have a lot of problems with it,” said City Administrator Michael Looft. He added the last heavy snow, the blower broke down and the city crew had to take three hours to repair it, and this is becoming a common occurrence.
“For snow equipment, this is our last puzzle piece,” Looft said. “Everything else has either been refreshed or renewed.”
The City has been saving for a snowblower and there is $68,000 in the account.