City Purchases Mini Trucks to Combat Fuel Costs

Tim Smith, purchasing director, backs one of Vicksburg, Mississippi’s new mini-trucks into a parking place as Eldridge Skinner, supervisor for Vicksburg Animal Control, left, and Barry Warnock, vehicle maintenance director, direct him into the spot.

With gas nearing $4 per gallon, Vicksburg, Miss. city officials are studying the use of mini trucks for their landscaping crews.

The city has purchased four used mini trucks and two of the trucks ordered from Japan were recently inspected by Vicksburg Mayor Laurence Leyens and North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield and deemed wise purchases.

The other two trucks in the $28,849 order are expected to arrive shortly. They will be assigned to landscaping, cemetery and community services crews.

“If these are everything they’re promised to be, we’re going to be buying a lot more of them this year,” said Leyens as he surveyed one of the mini-trucks.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen in July, who expect the 40- to 60-mile-per-gallon vehicles to trim growth in fuel costs for city’s fleet of 240 cars and trucks, placed the order. The city spent a little more than $1 million on gasoline this fiscal year, about $250,000 more than it had budgeted, said Vicksburg Purchasing Director Tim Smith.

Two of the trucks are 1996 two-door vehicles, while the four-door mini-trucks are 2002 and 2003 models. Each of the Daihatsu Hi Jetdeck mini-trucks features a 660-cubic centimeter engine, 12-inch tires, four-wheel drive, air conditioning and air bags. One of the four-door vehicles has an automatic transmission, while the rest are manual transmission. City employees will have to get used to shifting with their left hands, as the steering wheels are on the right-hand side of the trucks. The vehicles have from 34,700 to 54,000 miles on the odometers.

“This is the right thing to be doing, not only from a financial point of view but also from a symbolic standpoint. We all need to be more fuel conscious,” said Leyens. “We can buy five of these for the price of one regular truck.”

Source: The Vicksburg (Miss.) Post