Desloge purchases new boom mower

DESLOGE – Less is more.

That’s the motto many Desloge aldermen are saying after unveiling the city’s newest purchase — a 2011 John Deere Boom Mower — Monday morning.

“With this mower, we are hoping we can do more with less,” Desloge City Administrator Greg Camp said. “This mower will allow one person to do a two or three person job.” 

Camp also said the city’s new mower will also significantly lower the amount of time it takes to trim grass or tree branches.

“We’ve had a three-man crew with a bobcat, chainsaws and weed whippers cover a 100-foot section like this mower did and it took them about three days to get the job done,” Camp said. “With this mower, we got the same job done in about an hour.”

Since last fall, the city has been looking to buy a multi-purpose mower to help maintain problem areas, such as the WPA ditch on Jackson Street.

Twenty thousand dollars of this year’s budget was set aside by the City of Desloge to purchase new mower.

“This tractor was $81 thousand,” Camp said. “The city is doing a lease purchase. We put $20 thousand down on it and then we will pay the other 60 grand off over the next three years.”

Aside from efficiency, the new mower will also have numerous purposes. 

It will double as a snow, plow salt and dump truck.

When city aldermen were looking at different mowers last fall, representatives from Crown Equipment in Ste. Genevieve, the company where the tractor was purchased, did a demo in the WPA ditch. During the demo, city officials were able to see how versatile the mower was, which is why this particular model was purchased.

“With this upgrade, the city  is trying to do as much as possible with the least amount of equipment,” said Crown Equipment sales representative Jim Wesbecher, “By purchasing this boom mower, the city can now reach tree limbs that may hang down onto roads and hit cars as they drive by; the city will be able to trim grass that harbors mosquitoes and keep problems areas that are normally an eye sore clean; the city will be able to, if they’re not mowing, poor salt on the roads before it snows.”

Wesbecher said the mower has an infinite number of uses and that it is also safe to operate.

While the city’s new mower could have been utilized to its maximum capacity during the recent weather, no date has been set for when it will make its debut.

Camp said all street department workers will need to have some training on the mower before it is put to use.

A presentation about the mower about the mower was given Monday night at the city’s monthly board meeting, where Desloge aldermen also agreed to add two Mastodon batting cages to Brightwell Park.

The Desloge mayor and board members also commended city department personnel at the meeting for working hard during the recent winter weather.

Brittney French is a reporter for the Daily Journal and can be reached at 573-431-2010, ext. 114, or at bfrench@dailyjournalonline.com