CAIRO — Grady County officials say they are willing to go to court to settle a dispute regarding an invoice for what they claim were incomplete repairs to a county vehicle.

The vehicle in question, a 26-year-old motor grader, was sent to the Cairo-based Ag-Pro shop in September to receive a repair that county officials understood to be covered by warranty.

According to the county, Ag-Pro representatives informed county shop director Chris Dix that the repair was in fact not covered by warranty after the vehicle was investigated and would actually cost between $26,000 to $35,000.

Dix told the company he was not interested in going forward with the repairs without warranty coverage and was provided with a $7,000 invoice for labor performed.

County Administrator Buddy Johnson said Ag-Pro told Dix that they were mistaken on the matter of the warranty.

“I will stand in the corner of Chris Dix on this heavily,” Johnson said. “He has never not asked for approval on anything over $500.”

Ag-Pro said they are working with the county to resolve the dispute and did not wish to provide further comment.

Johnson said neither he nor Dix would have authorized labor on the aging vehicle had they known it would cost that much and recommended that the county commission disapprove paying the invoice, which they did last week.

“What they’re saying now is that it was a misunderstanding and that (the shop manager) misspoke,” Johnson said. “I said I’m sorry that he misspoke, but I cannot approve to pay $7,000 in taxpayer money on a misstatement.”

Additionally, county officials contend that the mechanical issue with the vehicle that led to the dispute was likely caused by an earlier faulty repair by Ag-Pro where a lock washer was not properly installed.

Johnson said Ag-Pro denies the county’s claims that the earlier repair was the cause of the vehicle’s mechanical troubles and states that the lock washer was installed correctly.

The county administrator said the lock washer has still not been located and expressed incredulity that the company was able to find every other piece of hardware.

“If they would have put it back together as is, we would have $14,000 on this and nothing fixed,” Johnson said.

Commissioners Ray Prince and Phillip Drew joined Johnson and Dix in a meeting with Ag-Pro management regarding the dispute.

During the meeting, Ag-Pro’s management said their shop manager misspoke, an excuse Johnson said he does not accept.

“My opinion on that is your man cost you $7,000 when he misspoke,” the county administrator said.

The county has since retrieved the vehicle and Johnson said they are prepared for the issue to be settled in court if needed.

“It may go to litigation and we’ll put it in our attorney’s hands to move forward,” Johnson said. “We’ll see what Ag-Pro wishes to do with it, but at this point I do not believe we should pay this bill.”

Johnson said he didn’t want the issue to become public, but a lack of productive dialogue between the two parties before the invoice came due at Tuesday’s commission meeting left the matter out of control.

“Sometimes you’ve got to fight back,” he said. “I’m afraid I want to fight back on this. I just don’t think this is right.”