Brand new grader will hit the ground running

The newest investment for the Township of St. Joseph arrived Friday morning from Sault Ste. Marie-based Toromont CAT Construction Equipment. 

The cost of the brand new CAT grader  is about $300,000. 

St. Joseph Township Councillor Joe Wiederkehr who was present when the grader arrived said funds to pay for the equipment came out of its Capital Reinvestment Reserves.

"It's important that we replace our aging equipment before the trade in has gone to zero," Wiederkehr said. "Our present grader is 25-years-old and we have to make sure we are not faced without a piece of equipment that is due to totally break down."

It's first job will be spreading gravel on Camp D'Ours Road Monday.

Works Department Supervisor John Cain and works employee Dan See Jr. spent the day in training under the direction of CAT certified trainer, Eric Morin.

Among the new and improved features include joy stick control vs a steering wheel, a number of safety features, articulation, ground level service access, back up camera, cross slope control, hydraulic wing vs cable and improved driver control within the cab.

The vintage grader is used on township roads 12 months a year for snow removal and road work. In over two decades it has clocked 12,000 hours on the engine. 

It will be removed from municipal property in the coming week.

The old grader was getting to the point it was going to start costing the township a lot of money in repairs, Cain said.

Three companies were invited to submit tenders with the successful tender accepted by council at its July 6 meeting.