The city of Marthasville will not be buying a new Bobcat skid steer.During a special board meeting March 30, the board unanimously voted to continue renting a skid steer on an as needed basis instead of purchasing a Bobcat T590.At its March 16 meeting the board discussed purchasing the piece of equipment to help with several projects around the city, namely cleaning out a box culvert on Highway D between the train depot and South Street.Public Works Director Brad Landwehr proposed buying a Bobcat T590 for $44,423.70 off the state contract to help with the cleaning work. The board elected to double check the budget before making any purchases.At the special meeting, the mayor and aldermen were provided with an updated budget showing the city’s expenses as of March 25. Mayor David Lange said that in different department budgets the city had about $83,000 remaining for equipment purchases.Alderman Pam Jensen said she favored waiting to make the purchase until next year. Jensen said the updated budget shows less income projected for the current year so the board should be cautious spending money.“I personally think, for this year, we’ve spent enough,” she said.Jensen motioned to table the purchase request until the budget for 2016-17 is ready. Her motion was seconded by Alderman Mike Kloeppel. Jensen and Kloeppel voted in favor of tabling the request, but Aldermen Dan Grafrath and Nick Lange opposed.Mayor David Lange broke the 2-2 tie and sided with Grafrath and Alderman Lange.Grafrath asked Jensen why, if she wants the culvert to be cleaned out, she’s opposed to purchasing the Bobcat. Jensen responded that Grafrath had said at the March 16 meeting the Bobcat couldn’t do the job.Grafrath, who works for Lamke Trenching & Excavating, said at the March meeting that when his company was looking at cleaning out the culvert, it was going to use a bigger, more powerful piece of equipment.Mayor Lange said the Bobcat would be used all over the town and not just at the culvert. He said the city would be getting a good price on a piece of equipment that would get a lot of heavy use.From the audience, Marthasville resident Trei Irwin asked the mayor where the Bobcat would be used. Mayor Lange listed off several possible projects and asked Landwehr to weigh in on the issue.Landwehr said he wasn’t sure the Bobcat would be used often.“I’m just going be honest — it is most likely going to sit 95 percent of the time,” he said.Landwehr called the Bobcat a “big expense” and said he wasn’t sure it made sense to spend $40,000 on something that can be rented for $250 a day. He said he would be OK with having a Bobcat, and it would be used, but he also supported renting one, too.After Landwehr’s response, Alderman Nick Lange suggested the board just continue renting the Bobcat as needed. The rest of the board agreed and unanimously declined to purchase the Bobcat and continue renting.Marthasville