Memorandum - Vehicle and Equipment CIP

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Page 2 Discussion 2010 Staff is recommending the replacement of vehicle #203, a model year 2000 one-ton two wheel drive pick- up truck with a lifting crane attachment. There are currently 112,453 miles on this vehicle, and the frame is twisted from the use of the crane. This truck is used on a daily basis by the staff member who checks and maintains our fourteen lift stations. The crane is used for removing pumps from lift stations as needed. A pick-up type truck is not the ideal type of vehicle to mount a crane of this type onto. Staff is exploring a utility body style truck built on an F-450 chassis as its replacement. With this type of a body we will be able to carry tools and equipment in protected compartments. An estimated breakdown on the costs related to this purchase are as follows; F-450 chassis $28,500, Steel Utility Body and Central truck hydraulic system $16,000, Lifting Crane $14,200, Snow Plow$5,000, Lighting and safety equipment $2,700 for a total estimated replacement cost of$66,400 plus tax. This cost is significantly higher than the cost to replace our current vehicle with a similar vehicle. To address this cost difference we looked ahead 2-3 years to when we would recommend replacing vehicle #404 which is one of our four one-ton dump trucks. As a result of our review of our current fleet primarily as it relates to the merging of our parks and public works departments into one department, we can reduce the number of one-ton dump trucks needed on our fleet from four to three. The recommendation is to purchase a heavier duty truck in 2010 to serve as the utility vehicle and in 2012 purchase a pick-up truck at a cost of$35,000 which will be a savings of$20,000 as a one-ton dump truck is estimated to cost$55,000. As a result of this change in equipment types we would include installing a plow on our new utility body truck. The vehicle will be used primarily as a service and repair vehicle for the utility departments, and will have the ability to be utilized as a plow truck in our fleet. As part of the 2009 CIP presentation to Council last year, staff was at that time recommending the purchase of a sidewalk snow removal machine in 2010. We have continued to research options for best option for this machine. Last year we anticipated this to be a new additional piece of equipment for our fleet. Our research has led us now to recommend that this machine become the replacement of our 1988 John Deere Tractor#406. We are recommending that this tractor be replaced with a Bobcat Toolcat; A Toolcat is a multi use utility machine which is capable of accepting similar types of attachments as the tractor can. The main difference is that the attachments are quick mount to the front of the machine and are hydraulically operated. Tractor attachments are typically mounted on the rear using a 3-point hitch system and PTO power. This is a unique machine as it will accept any attachments that a regular skid steer can, as well as it has a small dump type box on the back. We would recommend that a snow blower, a"V"plow, bucket, and brush cutting mower deck also be purchased as attachments for this machine. Estimated cost for the base Utility machine and recommended attachments is $50,000. This cost is less than the anticipated costs to replace the existing tractor. This new machine would also become our primary piece of snow removal equipment for our trails and sidewalks. Currently we plow approximately 11 miles of trail and sidewalk each snowfall, and we are continuing to add trails to the system. Depending on the depth of snow we use four different pieces of equipment to remove snow from trails and sidewalks. These four