4.6. SR 10-12-1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

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.~y of River MEMORANDUM TO: FROM: DATE: SUBJECT: Patrick D. Klaers, City Administrator Phil Hals, Street/Park Superintend en~ ..~ October 1, 1998 Truck Purchase Speaking on behalf of the Street Department, we are excited about the opportunity to purchase a new truck, but our enthusiasm was dampened when we started talking delivery dates with truck dealers. For example, a truck ordered today with an automatic transmission has a delivery of 300 to 330 days and the equipment installation adds an additional 60 days. We have demonstrated a truck with a select-shift transmission, which is a compromise between a manual and an automatic transmission. It costs less to purchase and cuts the delivery time to 100 days. The equipment installation remains at 60 days. We feel that this transmission option could service us well and is worth buying. Our projected equipment needs indicate the need for four trucks in the next five years, so I would ask that we advertise for bids this fall for two trucks, one with the select-shift transmission for early spring delivery and one with an automatic transmission for delivery in January of 2000. The bid documents can be structured so that the City has an "escape clause" for the second truck for some unforeseen event makes it impossible for us to take delivery. Bidding two units now would also assure that we would have two like units with like specifications. In an ideal world, we would like to plow snow with the new truck in January or February of 1999, but that does not seem possible. The snowplowing time for the tandem trucks will only amount to about 20 percent of the total usage. We want to take delivery before the 1999 construction season, so we can '¥etire" one of our twenty-year-old trucks. 13065 Orono Parkway · P.O. Box 490 · Elk River, MN 55330 ° TDD & Phone: (612) 441-7420 · Fax: (612) 441-7425