Decatur County’s request for bids on a pickup truck ended differently on the second go-around.

On March 8, county commissioners voted to re-bid the purchase of a new 4-by-4, crew cab pickup truck for the county’s Fire and Rescue Department.

The first time commissioners considered bids, the only bidders were Ford dealers—some local, some from North Georgia. Commissioners requested other manufacturer’s dealers be given the chance to bid.

So at Tuesday evening’s meeting, commissioners were presented with bids from three Ford dealerships and one each from Dodge and General Motors. This time, the low bid on the pickup was $23,147 from Dean Chrysler of Bainbridge. At least one dealer that bid the first time submitted a lower bid the second time; one dealer chose not to bid a second time, County Administrator Tom Patton said.

Fire and Rescue needs a new pickup truck to replace one that has more than 186,000 miles on it; the old truck still runs OK and will be transferred to the Public Works Department.

Other business

In other business conducted Tuesday night, county commissioners:

• Unanimously approved to award Bob Roberson and Associates of Moultrie, Ga., a grant administration contract related to the county’s application for a federal CDBG grant which would go toward improvements to Carter’s Mill Road near Brinson. The county would pay Roberson 6 percent of the grant amount if the county’s application is approved.

• Unanimously approved to award Watkins and Associates of Tifton, Ga., a project engineering contract related to the Carter’s Mill CDBG project. The county would pay Watkins 8.5 percent of the project’s cost if the county’s grant application is approved.

• Unanimously approved a mutual firefighting aid agreement with Gadsden County, Fla.

• Heard from County Treasurer Claude Shirley, who commented on a previous decision by commissioners on the procedure for disposal of obsolete voting precinct properties.