A maintenance oversight on a piece of equipment has proven to be costly for the City of Timpson. According to an article in yesterday’s Timpson-Tenaha News, a Case backhoe which developed transmission trouble recently, had never had it’s oil and filter changed since being purchased in 2010. The issue is reportedly costing over $19-thousand for replacement by a Shreveport company.

The Timpson City Council decided to approve replacement of the transmission and torque converter instead of going with an overhaul, which was only $1,600 more.

The article reports council members questioned the lack of maintenance by city employees, which received responses of not knowing the proper scheduling of such work. It was reported the backhoe’s transmission was to have received a filter and oil change at every 100 hours of use. However, the broken backhoe had 1,000 hours of use, with no changes ever taking place.

Mayor Debra Smith said because of the age of the machinery, there’s no warranty, and no service warranty was obtained at purchase.