1G, Lawn Mower Purchase Opportunity

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MEMORANDUM ~ DATE: December 15, 2008 TO: Mayor and City Council Ron Moorse, City Administrator FROM: Greg Hoag, Public Works Director SUBJECT: Lawn Mower Purchase Opportunity BACKGROUND On December 8, 2008 the City Council approved the 2009 budget and Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) which included the replacement of our 1998 Toro Groundsmaster lawn mower with a large area lawn mower. The Mounds View School District Maintenance Department currently has two surplus lawn mowers in their fleet which they would like to donate to The City of Arden Hills. The first mower is a Jacobsen HR-5111 large area mower capable of cutting a ten foot width. (Picture attached) This mower is the style of mower we planned to recommend purchasing as our replacement mower in early 2009. The Mounds View mower currently has 1665 hours which is estimated to be about half of the normal life of the engine. This mower is in need of some repairs and maintenance. Turfwerks located in Eagan Minnesota is the local distributer for Jacobsen equipment. Turfwerks has provided us with an estimate for repairs to this mower. These repairs were broken down into three categories: Need to do now, $860.00 parts and labor; Highly recommended, $3,257.11 parts and labor; and wear part routine maintenance and repair, $1,400.29 parts only for an estimated total with tax of $6,000.00. These repairs are all repairs that can be expected over the life of this type of equipment. There are no major issues with the motor or cutting decks. Turfwerks estimates this mower, if all of the repairs were completed, could sell for approximately $18,000.00. A brand new mower of this type is listed at $44,640.00 on the State of Minnesota purchasing contract for 2009. It is anticipated that if we were to acquire this mower and continue with regular routine maintenance and repairs, we could expect to get five to seven years of service from this mower. We would expect to get fifteen years of service from a brand new mower.