6.6. SR 05-24-1999 - Laserfiche WebLink

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. . . Groups which enter into a rental agreement with the city expect to have the facility available with good ice, and this would not be true if the ice resurfacer was down. If the ice resurfacer was down, it may be possible to find another machine within the Twin City area to rent, but this also would take time to arrange and each prime time hour without rent from both sheets of ice is over $250 per hour of lost revenue. How to finance this piece of equipment has been the biggest stumbling block to this purchase. Options include using equipment reserves, using the Holt/Jackson land sale revenues, or using the 2000 equipment certificate budget. The decision regarding using equipment certificates can be made at budget time, but our overall equipment certificate amount may already be too high with the new street department truck that has been ordered. I don't like presenting this request to the council without the two newly elected officials having a better feel of the big picture regarding the budget, the capital improvement program, and specifically, the equipment requests. However, it should be noted that this ice resurfacer is not much different than the street department's trucks, the fire department chassis for tanker #2 which is coming out of the reserve budget in 1999, or the $60-$80,000 in police car purchases that happen annually. The ice resurfacer has been a concern since day one and now that the heat/dehumidification problem has been resolved, it seems appropriate to tackle this next problem. Regarding why this issue is coming forward now, the answer is twofold; one, the Holt/Jackson revenue seems close and two, a new ice resurfacer requires 200 days lead time between date of order and date of receipt. Hopefully this delivery timeframe can be shortened up and the 200 days lead time is a conservative number for the vendors, but, if we start now with City Council approval to advertise for bids, we then can consider bids on June 14 and receive the machine on or before January 1, 2000. Regarding the type of machine to purchase, it is recommended that the city pursue a battery operated ice resurfacer. We do not want to purchase a propane fueled ice resurfacer as there is the threat or concern of health problems associated with a propane fueled ice resurfacer within an enclosed arena. I think we read about health scares every winter in one arena or another with this type of machine. In the long run, the battery operated machine will be best, especially considering our Energy City status. While the purchase cost is higher for this machine versus a propane fueled machine, the operating expenses are anticipated to be lower. It is expected that the ice resurfacer will be in the $80,000 range plus tax and shipping, compared to a propane fueled machine which would be in the $65,000 range.