By Joe BarkerRecord Staff WriterThe city of Marthasville agreed to purchase one piece of equipment from Lamke Trenching and Excavating, Inc., but passed on two others.At the Dec. 16 board of aldermen meeting, the board voted 2-1 to purchase a 2006 Bobcat mini excavator from Lamke. Aldermen Mike Kloeppel voted against the purchase and Alderman Dan Grafrath abstained because he works for Lamke.The Bobcat will cost the city $13,300. Mayor David Lange said the city has $73,000 in various budgets to purchase equipment.Lange said Lamke was getting rid of three older pieces of equipment and was offering them to the city. Lange said the costs were equal to what Lamke would receive for trading in the vehicles.The three vehicles were a 2007 John Deere backhoe for $56,000, a 2013 Cat skid steer for $29,000 and the Bobcat. Lange said all three pieces were inspected by himself and Public Works head Brad Landwehr.Lange told the board he felt all three would help the city with various projects and the prices were “reasonable.”During a lengthy discussion, Kloeppel expressed concern for a number of reasons. His first issue was the city had no place to store the equipment.Grafrath said Lamke currently stores all the equipment outside, but Kloeppel still wasn’t convinced. He said the three pieces would cost money to purchase, but would add additional expenses for maintenance and insurance.Kloeppel said he couldn’t envision the equipment being used 365 days a year. If the equipment is just sitting around, he said it’s not a good investment. He proposed just renting on an as-needed basis.In November, the board approved allowing Landwehr up to $3,000 to rent a Bobcat for a month. Aldermen Pam Jensen and Nick Lange said for $10,300 more, the city could have the Bobcat all the time and not have to worry about renting.“To me it’s a no brainer,” Nick Lange said. “It’s a steal.”Mayor Lange asked Grafrath to weigh in on each piece since he works for Lamke and has used each one. Grafrath said the Cat skid steer was lacking power and wasn’t a good purchase. He said the John Deere backhoe would give the city the most bang for the buck.Landwehr said if the city was making a choice between the three pieces, he would also prefer the Bobcat. He said it could be used to clean out ditches and help with other projects.Landwehr said the city would need a trailer if it purchased the Bobcat, which would add about $3,500 to the price tag.Renting also was an option Landwehr said he would support. Tim Flagg, the city’s water and sewer superintendent, said the prices the city would be getting were good, but he liked the renting aspect. He said it was nice to call someone and then have a whole crew come out and do the work.Jensen suggested the board might be better served by acting later. She said maybe the board should spend a year renting the equipment and see what it costs. She said that way the city could track usage and see what is really needed.Nick Lange suggested another option. He said the city should purchase the Bobact, but rent the other equipment as needed.Landwehr said with the deal the city is getting on the Bobcat it could buy it, use it for a year and then sell it. He said it may be possible to sell it for a profit.Alderman Lange motioned to buy the Bobcat and Jensen seconded the motion.Marthasville