City purchases new street sweeper
After 15 years of use and more than $38,000 in repairs over that period, the City of Holton’s street sweeper will soon be replaced.
During Monday’s Holton City Commission meeting, commissioners accepted a bid of $189,900 from Sellers Equipment of Topeka for the purchase of a new Global M3 street sweeper to replace a 1996 model Johnston sweeper that has been in the city’s employ since 2001. The purchase will come from the city’s equipment reserve fund, it was reported.
“Our old street sweeper has served this community well over the years,” Holton City Manager Bret Bauer said of the old Johnston sweeper. “But its maintenance costs are adding up.”
In fact, over the past 15 years, the street sweeper has racked up a total of $38,157.84 in maintenance costs, nearly half of that coming in 2012 and 2013, when the annual maintenance cost for each respective year was $12,372.28 and $6,991.42. Its maintenance cost so far for 2016 is $903.80, commissioners noted.
In recent months, emboldened by significant balances in the city’s capital improvement and equipment reserve funds, commissioners have been discussing possible uses for those funds, with the purchase of a new street sweeper stated as an equipment reserve option. As of Monday, Bauer said, the city had $309,403.84; after the purchase, the balance stands at $119,503.84.
Holton Street Foreman Greg Tanking told commissioners in April that when looking at a street sweeper to replace the Johnston sweeper, a new one should be considered because with a used one, “you’re rolling the dice on how long it’s going to last.” While buying new might all but deplete what’s currently in the equipment reserve fund, Tanking said, it would give the city a machine that could last “30 to 40 years.”
On Monday, commissioners reviewed three bids for the purchase of a new machine — the bid from Sellers, a bid of $202,600 from Rose Equipment of Lincoln, Neb., and a $199,149 bid from Key Equipment of Kansas City. Rose had also placed a bid on a Global M3, while Key bid on an Elgin “Broom Badger,” which was “not what we were looking for,” according to Tanking.
The Global M3, on the other hand, comes with a diesel engine, same as the Johnston, brooms that last longer than the brooms on the Johnston, a three-year warranty on the unit and a five-year warranty on the motor, Tanking noted. He added that the new sweeper would be delivered within 120 days.
The purchase of the street sweeper prompted some commissioners to ask whether there would be enough in the equipment reserve fund for other purchases, such as a backhoe for the water and wastewater department. Assistant City Manager Kerwin McKee said that department is currently using a backhoe that was made in 1981 and may need to be replaced.
However, Commissioner Tim Morris said he was pleased to have the resources to buy the new sweeper, an item that’s been on the city’s wish list for years.
“I know we’re spending a lot of money on this machine,” Morris said prior to making the motion to purchase the new sweeper. “When we had no money, it was never an option, but now that we have accumulated a little… this is the time to purchase something like this.”
On a related note, it was reported in February that the city’s capital improvement fund had grown to $199,874.77 with the possibility of growing to $1,119,874.77 by year’s end. But at their April 4 meeting, commissioners agreed by consensus to pave or resurface five parking lots at the city’s parks; a cost estimate of $120,080 was presented for the work.
In other business on Monday, Morris inquired into whether action had been taken to remove a dilapidated residential structure at 719 New Jersey Ave., owned by Mary Lou Benander and declared a public nuisance by the commission earlier this year. Commissioners gave Benander a 60-day deadline to take action on removing the structure during a meeting on Feb. 16.
At that time, Benander told commissioners that the dilapidated, fire-damaged structure had been secured so that no one could get into it, and she agreed that it needed to be removed. She also asked commissioners whether she could turn the structure over to the city for its own use, but commissioners said they were not interested in taking over the property.
McKee said Monday that two local contractors had been contacted on bids for removal of the property, but he added that he found out earlier that day that one of the bidding firms has taken over the property and will remove it. The contractor, whom McKee did not name, said he would remove the structure within 60 days.
“He actually has paid back taxes on the property and has been cleaning it to do something with it,” McKee added.
