City hall will purchase a new aerial bucket truck worth $229,500 because its current machine is over 18 years old, has 71,497 kilometres on it and is experiencing a major oil leak.
City council voted unanimously during its July 10 regular meeting to authorize the parks and recreation department to award the replacement contract for unit No. 92 to American company Altec NUECO. The department will use $172,184 in accumulated depreciation and $56,686 in other savings to acquire the vehicle.
The 2017-made machine has 25,750 kilometres on it and will reach 20 feet higher, while the parks and rec department expects it to last another eight to 10 years, a council report said.
The supplier has inspected the unit and will deliver it within a week of the municipality officially purchasing it. The unit comes with a 30-day bumper-to-bumper warranty, so if anything breaks, Altec NUECO mechanics will come to repair it for free.
According to the city’s fleet services and parks supervisors, purchasing a brand-new unit would cost roughly $400,000 and take six to eight months to arrive.
The current bucket truck is facing a major oil leak and requires significant repairs before it can be used again, while it is scheduled for replacement in 2026, Scott Osmachenko, acting director of parks and rec, said in his report.
City hall expects repairs to take two to three weeks and cost $24,000, although that could increase depending on what mechanics find when they remove the unit’s front end.
The municipality has spent $59,489 since 2020 to repair this unit, averaging almost $20,000 per year to keep the machine operating, he continued. Investing another $25,000 in repairs would be a waste because of the unit’s age and mechanics’ difficulties in sourcing hard-to-find or non-existent parts.
Purchasing a newer machine — the current one will be sold — would ensure the city can restore services sooner than if the current machine were repaired, while there would be major savings in repair costs and less service downtime in the future, the acting director pointed out.
The city would be negatively affected by not having a bucket truck because it uses the machine year-round, mainly for tree pruning, tree removals and addressing safety concerns and residents’ requests.
“Without this truck, the city is limited in its ability to address emergency safety concerns in a timely manner and not able to continue working on the significant backlog of forestry work that is required,” said Osmachenko.
Emergency forestry work includes storm clean-up and removal of trees and limbs that block roads, paths, and traffic signs, while the truck helps public works crews when they need trees removed or pruned during emergency infrastructure work.
Furthermore, with the annual Dutch Elm Disease program underway, city crews use the truck to sample Elm trees showing signs of the disease, he continued. Crews will need the bucket truck to remove trees confirmed to have the disease.
Dutch Elm Disease spreads quickly through the root system, which means municipal employees should remove infected trees speedily.
Besides forestry duties, city crews use the aerial bucket truck to install downtown flags and banners and repair lights at outdoor sports fields and rinks.
With the current truck unusable until repaired or replaced, the city has contracted out emergent tree removals and has rented a lift to complete lighting repairs, both of which are expensive compared to performing the work in-house, added Osmachenko.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, July 24.
