The Ways & Means Committee met Monday night at City Hall where Mayor Guy Martin proposed three appointments to City Boards and Commissions including Derek Martin and Mike LaFrance for Park Board and J.P. Knox to the Airport Commission. The committee voted to move forward with those appointees. Martin, who still has several appointments to make, told the committee he wants to make sure he has good people who have the availability to make meetings, so final appointments could come as late as February.
The committee agreed with a staff recommendation to increase the street assessment rate for street construction and reconstruction from $35 to $40 per abutting foot to meet their recommended 20 percent assessment rate. Public Works Director, Pat Kelly explains, “For reconstructing or reconstructing a street the rate would increase from $35 to $40, the rates that we charge for overlays would stay the same. With increased building costs we’ve been lagging behind on this one.” Kelly added, “What I use is a blank slate street, without storm sewer or anything like that and we had a street just like that this last year, and we only had about 17 percent of the cost, where we want to stay at about 20 percent of the cost that we assess.”
The committee was also presented with the request to purchase a John Deere 1575 TerrainCut mower, with sweeper and snowblower attachments for $43,717.40. The purchase was budgeted for by the Park and Recreation for 2019, and there was a subsequent request to purchase a second mower using reserves because there is currently a 20 percent discount through January. These mowers, each with six-foot decks would replace the older mower which died this past year. The smaller decks allow the mowers to be used for snow removal on sidewalks around the Sports Center and the City’s trails, with the added possibility of being commissioned for future downtown sidewalk snow removal. Councilman Bobby Baird asked Park and Recreation Director Scott Riopelle, about many of the mower’s specifications to ensure they City was getting a mower that would fit its needs. “I questioned Scott to make sure it’s an angle broom to go back and forth and have hydraulics to make sure we are covered,” said Baird. “We did increase them by ten horsepower, and that should help with throwing snow in the winter, and they need it with 300-400 acres to mow, and they take a beating.”
Riopelle did say the mower that died this past year was purchased 14 years ago and had a long-life cycle. Councilwomen Cindy Gjerswold asked if Riopelle had put the mowers up for bid and Riopelle explained that he used the state bid website which compiles the prices. Baird also said the mowers are needed because at some point repairs are no longer cost-effective. “I also look at when it comes to repairs there becomes a cost factor when they get old,” said Baird. “If you stick a bunch of money you can just as well get a new, so cost factor is important right now too.”
The committee then had two votes, the first for the purchase of the budgeted mower and the second for the purchase of a second mower from reserves, both of which passed unanimously.
