Photo by Martin Owen The rear of the leading truck, shortly after the accident.

A trash truck collision three months ago turned into a boon for the public service department, after the city council gave its blessing Oct. 16 to five brand new garbage trucks.

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Two garbage trucks collided on July 24 on their way to the city transfer station near Lake Maloney. The drivers said they were distracted by a loose cow in front of the first truck.

When the lead truck came over a hill near Yucca Road, driver Richard Karre, 52, saw a cow loose on the road and quickly slowed down. Adam Anderson, 32, driving the second truck, didn’t see Karre slow down and ran into the back of his truck, according to investigators from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.

Anderson said he was also watching the cow.

The trucks were totaled, Public Service Director Wes Meyer told the city council, and the city received $79,225 from insurance and salvage.

That $79,225 will make the down payment on the five new trucks. City Finance Director Dawn Miller will take bids for a lease-purchase agreement to pay the rest of the price, Meyer and City Administrator Jim Hawks said.

The new trucks cost $540,054 from Nebraska Truck Center, the lowest price submitted, according to council records.

The only other bidder was Iowa State Truck Center and Elliot Sanitation of Sioux City, Iowa, which offered to sell the trucks to the city for $551,940.

The trucks are Freightliner M2106 with New Way Cobra 18 refuse compactor bodies, according to council reports.