The CEA Review Committee met 03/20/2023. You can read a little more about the Central Equipment Agency on the City of Appleton’s website. Essentially, they’re in charge of maintaining the city’s fleet of vehicles and acquiring new vehicles when needed. The review committee does not have a regular schedule but instead meets when it is necessary which is generally 2-4 times a year.
The agenda for this meeting included approval of the 2023 CEA seasonal vehicle requests, requests to add some vehicles to the fleet, requests to keep vehicles in service, and a request to upgrade a truck when it was replaced next year.
I’ve prepared a complete transcript of the meeting for your downloading pleasure:
ITEM 23-0264: Request to upgrade Facilities truck #503 to a crew cab pickup truck with four-wheel drive when it’s replaced in 2024
This was a standard request. The Parks, Recreation, and Facilities Department decided that they would be better served by upgrading this vehicle to a pick-up truck. The CEA budget would cover the cost for an in-kind replacement and then the Parks, Recreation, and Facilities 2024 budget would cover the amount that was over and above the cost of an in-kind replacement (in this case about $5,000)
ITEM 23-0265: Request to keep Dodge Durango #803 until the replacement for van #807 arrives in 2024
This was for the Appleton Fire Department. The Fire Department can no longer get the minivans that they used to use for their fleet, so they wanted to hold onto this vehicle through the end of the year instead of trading it in, so they could figure out what vehicle they would replace it with. They thought they would end up getting a Ford Explorer.
It was noted that over the last couple years, auto manufacturers have been scaling back the models they produce resulting in situations like this where the vehicle the city would have ordered is no longer available and they have to work on finding the closest fit to what they previously had.
ITEM 23-0266: Request to add Salsco HP Roller to Reid Golf Course CEA Equipment fleet in 2024
This unit had already been purchased for Reid Golf Course and they just wanted to add it to the CEA Equipment Fleet next year which would help them have the funds down the road to replace it with a like-kind vehicle when it reached the end of its serviceable life.
ITEM 23-0267: Request to add second use sedan to Health Department fleet in 2023
In reading through the memo to the committee, it seems that changes in the city’s travel reimbursement policy resulted in nursing staff not having their travel expenses fully reimbursed at a time when “an exponential growth” in tuberculosis cases had increased the need for nursing staff to travel, hence the need to add a second use vehicle for the Health Department to use.
The mention of an increase in TB cases caught the eye of Alderperson Denise Fenton (District 6) who said, “I’m terrified to ask, do we see this as an ongoing need to have the two vehicles available?” Apparently, per Health Officer Sepers, the memo was perhaps a little confusing and the Health Department was not asking for an additional vehicle. They only needed one but were asking for it outside of the normal timeframe they would ask for it.
ITEM 23-0268: Request to keep tractor #593 as a spare in the Stormwater fleet when it’s replaced in 2024
This tractor was currently used by Parks, Recreation, and Facilities but was regularly borrowed by the stormwater division which has found it to be an incredibly valuable piece of equipment. Parks, Recreation, and Facilities has a new tractor that better fits their needs. CEA would like to keep the old tractor as part of the stormwater fleet rather than selling it and then allow Parks, Recreation, and Facilities to borrow it from them during the times they need it.
ITEM 23-0269: Approve 2023 CEA seasonal vehicle requests
This was a standard request that CEA brought forward every year. CEA works to find vehicles that have a little life left in them and figure out which departments need them for the summer months or for special events.
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) asked what was seasonal about the Mayor’s Office’s need for a general transportation vehicle. In that case, it turned out that the need was not “seasonal” per se but rather just a general need to have a car available should someone in the Mayor’s Office or the Attorney’s Office need one.
INFORMATION ITEM 23-0270: 2023 Equipment Purchase Log
Holding true to what they had experienced over the last few years, prices were higher. Not only were prices higher than they had anticipated most times, but it was also taking longer for equipment to arrive after being ordered. In 2022, CEA managed to come in just under budget, and they were hoping that would happen in 2023 as well, but inflation was tough.
An additional challenge was the fact that they had not received a lot of their 2022 vehicles yet, so they didn’t really know what the actual cost from 2022 would have been for a vehicle. They were now trying to predict what they would pay in 2023, but the last numbers they had to go off of was what they paid in 2021. This was also making it difficult to set the 2024 budget.
Alderperson Fenton asked what their confidence level was regarding being able to get the equipment that was required this year for the budget that they had. Deputy Director of Operations Nathan Loper said it was not looking great and they were still trying to get 2022 equipment in. He mentioned that they ordered a Fire Department vehicle in 2021 and were oping it would show up in 2023. Everything was about 2 years out. The number of vehicles available was lower than they needed. He said that they ordered 6 Ford pickup trucks last year only to be told at the 11th hour that they could only get 1.
INFORMATION ITEM 23-0271 Proposed 2024 Equipment Replacements
The city was still only 24 units and always celebrated equipment lasting longer than anticipated. However, the delays in delivery for newly ordered vehicles was changing their considerations as to when to order new vehicles. They used to talk to city teams about whether or not they thought they could get by for a year without a replacement, now the question was whether they could go 2 or 3 years without a replacement because even if they order a vehicle in 2023, it might not arrive until 2025.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1088440&GUID=DF4E3E4C-E655-4EE1-AC25-FB7B4E1E4DA4
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