The Central Equipment Agency Review Committee met 03/10/2025 and voted on 6 action items all of which were approved unanimously.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
2025 SEASONAL VEHICLE REQUESTS – This item was fairly straight forward. The one question the committee had pertained to the request from the Police Department for a seasonal vehicle with lights to use to patrol Park and Rec facilities. In previous years, the Police Department has used a plain black van to patrol the parks at night, but they wanted to use something that looked more like a squad vehicle. The mini-van that they would be using in 2025 still had lights and decals even though most of the interior equipment had been removed, so it was more recognizable as a police vehicle than the black van they had been using.
2026 EQUIPMENT REPLACEMENT PLAN – There were no questions or discussion on this item.
PURCHASE WEIDMANN TRIPLE V 375 – The city’s 2025 budget included $117,451 to cover the replacement of Reid Golf Course’s existing fairway mower. City staff ended up deciding to downsize from the larger model that had been budgeted for to a smaller model that only cost $68,509.96. This resulted in left-over budgeted dollars of $48,491.04. City staff wanted to take that $48,491 as well as budgeted CEA funds of $23,979 and use that $72,470 to purchase a Weidemann Triple V 375 as an additional piece of Reid’s equipment fleet. [I didn’t really understand what the benefit of this was. It seems like staff initially downsized equipment and saved taxpayer dollars but instead of giving the saved dollars back to taxpayers or paying off debt, they turned around a spent it on an extraneous piece of additional equipment.]
FIRE DEPARTMENT CHANGE ORDER – The Fire Department placed orders in 2023 and 2024 for two new fire engines. Those engines are expected to be delivered in 2027 and 2029. Since placing the original orders, the Fire Department has determined that they need an additional 18 inches of length in the engines’ cabs to securely store various equipment. As a result, they would like to submit change orders for the two vehicles requesting alterations in the design. The change would result in an increase of $24,055.47 for the vehicle to be delivered in 2027 and $20,829.49 for the 2029 vehicle. The difference in price of approximately $3,225 was because the engineering and design work would only need to be done once and would be applicable to both vehicles. The change order and additional cost would not impact the existing contract and associated cost-savings that were already in place on the two ordered vehicles.
RETAIN FIRE ENGINE 823 – In March of 2025, the fire department will be replacing an old fire engine with a new fire engine. Usually, when an old fire engine is replaced it is taken out of service and sole. In this case, the Fire Department would like to continue utilizing the old fire engine for 2-years as a training tool. Fire Chief Jeremy Hansen mentioned that they have a lot of engineering training classes coming up as well as a lot of turnover for hiring. Using this old vehicle would keep them from having to take an engine out of their front-line fleet. It would only cost $166 a month to retain, and its use as a training vehicle outweighed the estimated $4,500 the city would make if they sold it.
SOLE SOURCE PURCHASE OF A LADDER TRUCK – The ladder truck cost $2,099,909. There was a 4 year lead time on vehicle delivery once an order was placed. In four years, the ladder truck that will be replaced by this new vehicle will be pushing 15-years old and will be ready for replacement. There had been various payment options including prepayment, at the time of delivery, and during installments as the vehicle was built out, but city staff had determined it would be to the city’s advantage to pay at the time of delivery.
All of the items were unanimously recommended for approval.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1287499&GUID=B897182C-BC3D-4EC4-AC0A-4AFF074D3C51
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