LA GRANDE — The average age of Union County’s truck fleet will decline by about five years due to an upcoming new addition.

The Union County Board of Commissioners voted on Wednesday, Jan. 4, to approve the purchase of a new three-axle conventional cab dump truck that includes snowplow equipment.

The truck will fill an important need because the Union County Public Works Department’s truck fleet is aging. All of its four trucks were purchased around 1990 and have an average of 700,000 miles on them, said Union County Public Works Director Doug Wright.

The addition of the new truck will drop the average age of Union County’s fleet to 25 years. In addition, the average mileage of the trucks will fall to about 560,000 miles.

The new truck will be used for hauling rock and plowing snow.

“It is really needed,” Wright said.

Union County put out an advertisement for bids for the dump truck in 2022 and received only one by the deadline. The bid, from Freightliner Northwest, was for a Western Star 49X Dump Truck and snowplow, which is the truck that will be purchased. The total bid price was $328,218.

Union County’s truck fleet will not receive its new addition in the immediate future, though. Wright said due to a shortage of materials from supply chain problems and other issues, he anticipates a delay in receiving the truck, which will be customized to meet the Union County Public Works Department’s needs.

“It may be up to two years before we receive it,” he said.

The truck will be purchased with money from the Union County Public Works Department’s capital fund.

In other action items during the Jan. 4 meeting, the Union County Board of Commissioners reappointed Joel McCraw, Jody Prummer and Doug Wiggins to the Buffalo Peak Advisory Committee. The terms for all three were up for renewal. Their new terms will run through Dec. 31, 2026.

The board of commissioners also appointed Patrick Hemann to the Statewide Transportation Improvement Fund Advisory Committee for Union County. Hemann works for Northeast Oregon Public Transit, and his term also will run until the end of 2026.