County of Stettler approves $571K for grader engine rebuild

The County of Stettler office in October 2023. (Source: Google Street View)

Stettler county council approved over $570,000 to rebuild a grader engine. The resolution was passed by a 4 to 2 vote at a Sept. 30 special meeting of council.

Councillors read a report from director of operations Greggory Jackson who also began his presentation by noting information in the official agenda document may not jive with what he was quoting at the meeting.

Readers should note information in this article may quote directly from what was said at the special council meeting and may or may not match the official agenda document.

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Jackson stated one of the County of Stettler’s graders suffered some serious engine trouble and he was essentially asking councillors to decide how to get the grader back to work.

Jackson referred to a quote from Finning on a total rebuild of the C-104 CAT 4M grader’s motor of $571,000; the agenda memo noted that a secondary option of a CAT Reman engine for the C-104 was quoted by Finning at $64,478.95.

“The County of Stettler No.6 C-104 CAT motor grader is inoperable due to an engine failure,” stated Jackson’s report to council.

“Finning was contacted to complete a mechanical inspection of the grader and submit a quote for work required.

“Finning completed the inspection and submitted quotes for a complete refurbish rebuild of the grader including a 60 month / 6,000-hour warranty included and a separate quote for engine replacement only.”

Jackson noted that council recently discussed topics like grader rotation and replacement at a strategic planning session and in September asked staff to bring back an update including options that council had for the C-104 in question.

During discussion Jackson informed councillors Finning also offered free painting of the C-104 if it goes through the rebuild process.

He explained the reason a special council meeting was called for this item was the need to capitalize on a labour incentive program that requires work to begin in Sept. 2024. Hence, a council decision was urgent.

Coun. Les Stulberg asked if the $571,000 quote for the rebuild was firm, adding he was concerned, once the grader was being examined or worked on, more charges would be added to the final bill.

Jackson responded he had faith the Finning quote was final after speaking with Finning about previous rebuilds that didn’t have locked-in pricing.

“This is a hard and firm quote,” said Jackson, who pointed out he spoke to another municipality which also had a grader go through Finning’s rebuild process and which was satisfied with the results.

The conversation came around to the topic of a brand new C-104 grader; Jackson stated such a grader tricked out the way the County of Stettler requires would take months to deliver and would cost about $950,000, plus warranty fees on top of that.

Coun. Stulberg responded it appears the rebuild would be about $400,000 cheaper.

Coun. Ernie Gendre stated he felt the rebuild quote seemed high and suggested looking at a “drop-in” engine that could run the grader for a few years.

Reeve Larry Clarke responded that this was the third time council had discussed this grader and all those ideas had already been debated in the past.

Staff noted that they’d looked at getting the grader running again with a “drop-in” engine and with the grader’s non-operational value at about $50,000, adding a drop-in engine would do little for the vehicle’s value. Jackson stated going through Finning’s rebuild process boosts the C-104’s value.

Coun. Justin Stevens added that the C-104 in question is the second one the County of Stettler owns, observing this vehicle is part of the municipality’s plan to get down to more moderately priced graders.

Councillors passed a resolution to approve the complete refurbish and rebuild of the C-104 for the price of $571,000 by a 4 to 2 vote, Gendre and Coun. Paul McKay the dissenters. 

Stettler is about 80 kilometres east of Red Deer.