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CR 95-176 Adopt Equipment Replacement Plan 1996-2000 . e . \ y o ,< September 29, 1995 Council Report #95-176 o '" P K \ ADOPT EQUIPMENT REPLACEMENT PLAN 1996-2000 Proposed Action. Staff recommends adoption of the following motion: "Move to adopt the 1996-2000 Equipment Replacement Plan. " Overview. The plan is a detailed summary of the next five years of a 20 year schedule listing replacement of City equipment for all funds. The items which are funded in the Equipment Replacement Fund 202 derive their funds from the tax levy and support General Fund activities. Other items are funded from the respective operations to which the items are assigned. Primary Issues To Consider. o Is the 20 year schedule, especially the first five years, on target? o Should the annual levy be increased? o Response to equipment questioned at the Council work session. Supportin2 Information. o Draft - Equipment Replacement Plan 1996-2000. o Letter from Fire Chief. o Letter from Public Works. . e e Adopt Equipment Replacement Plan 1996-2000 Report 95-176 Page 2 Backeround. The Equipment Replacement Plan has two main purposes: 1. A long range systematic planning guide. 2. Provides a method for projecting funding to smooth out large swings in the annual levy. The Equipment Replacement Plan is a twenty year forecast of equipment needs in the City of Hopkins. It is intended to alert the Council and citizens to the major equipment needs on the horizon. The first year of the plan becomes an adopted equipment budget and relates almost completely to the operating budget which is approved on a yearly basis. The remaining nineteen years represent an estimate of equipment needs and funding capabilities of the City. Funding requirements vary drastically from year to year. In order to maintain a more even levy year by year, the twenty year schedule is projected with a 3% inflation factor and a yearly average dollar need is calculated (presented $484,700). The cash needs will experience a somewhat drastic roller coaster effect over the next 20 years given the present equipment needs and a 3% inflation rate. Cash will increase thru the year 2000 and then the next five years will deplete the cash balance. The last ten years of the schedule will smooth, but will pick up by 2015. In order to accomplish this pattern, it will be necessary to increase the 1995 levy by $50,000 to the $450,000 level - the first levy increase since inception of the Equipment Replacement Plan in 1987. The Equipment Replacement Plan's basic premise is scheduled replacement of present equipment. A new item, must in the year proposed, be presented in the annual operating budget with a stipulation that replacement will be necessary in the future. Flexibility of the Equipment Replacement Plan is established through annual review, and revision if necessary. The annual review assures that the plan is a continuing part of the budgetary process and that it will be consistent with changing demands as well as changing patterns in cost and financial resources. Highlights of changes from last year: Fire: Drop ambulance and crew cab Add lite rescue 4x4 vehicle City Hall Admin.: Finance computer and network were integrated and purchased in 1995, with a biannual upgrade amount established. The inspection computers were eliminated from the Equipment Replacement Plan. . e . Adopt Equipment Replacement Plan 1996-2000 Report 95-176 Page 3 Copiers - previously two machines were replaced at 3 year alternating intervals. In the future, City will use one heavy duty copier with a 5 year life and one smaller copier whose life will be extended to 4 years. There were a few items for which the useful life was extended and/or minor cost adjustments made to match the current market At the September 12, 1995, Council work session, questions were raised concerning three specific pieces of equipment The Council desired to have more information about the need for replacement of the: Item $ Replacement Year Jet Vactor Haz-Mat Van Turf Sweeper $164,600 $ 37,900 $ 10,900 1998 ]998 1998 All items were scheduled for replacement in 1998. Staff has reviewed the three items and recommends the Jet Vactor and Haz-Mat van be replaced. The replacement timing will be reviewed each year until it is determined that the old equipment can no longer economically be used. Please review memos from the Public Works Department and the Fire Chief Upon further scrutiny, which is always done before an item is replaced, it has been determined the present turf vac would not be needed in providing future equipment needs. Staff recommends this item be dropped from next year's schedule. The impact of removing it from this year's schedule would be negligible due to the small dollar amount of this item and would not result in a discernible difference in the funding needs of the Plan. . e . CITY OF HOPKINS MEMORANDUM DATE: TO: FROM: SUBJECT: September 22, 1995 Steve Mielke George Magdal Haz-Mat Squad 10 Replacement A question has come up regarding the replacement of the city Haz-Mat unit. It is my recommendation that it remain in the replacement schedule. Our State owned vehicle and equipment will greatly increase our abilities during a chemical emergency but it does not replace all of our current equipment. Our duties as a State "Chemical Assessment Team" are to identify a potentially hazardous situation and, if necessary, call in the State "Emergency Response Team" for mitigation. Our State equipment does not include: . leak control supplies such as "A" and "B" patching kits and rail car dome clamps, . over pack drums, . corrosive and alcohol foams, . neutralizing agents or, . a sufficient quantity of absorbents. We currently have this equipment on Squad 10. Mitigation can start immediately without the one hour delay expected for the State "Emergency Response Team". Our association with the State will hopefully be a long and mutually beneficial one. If we eliminated our in-house Haz-Mat capabilities Hopkins citizens could suffer if the State changes policy or the funding of this program. Squad 10 is also used by the police and fire departments as a command post for major incidents. It contains additional radios and equipment for this purpose. Should it be replaced in 1997? Probably, it will be almost 20 years old by then. Does it have to be replaced? No. We have the options of holding on to the existing truck a few more years or eliminating it completely having other vehicles pick up the equipment and dropping some of the functions. . . e CITY OF HOPKINS MEMORANDUM DATE: September 25, 1995 TO: Steven 1. Stadler, Public Works Director FROM: Michael G. Lauseng. Utilities Superintendent SUBJECT: Jet Vactor The Vactor was purchased in 1983. The unit was a demo model and it was shown in several equipment shows before we purchased it. This Vactor was larger than the model that we had specified, but since it was a demo unit we got it for the same price of the smaller unit. The Vactor was used all summer from April until October the first five years we had it, because our system was very full of sand and other heavy debris. After Lawrence Rudolph died, I never had enough personnel to jet the entire city in one summer again. The Vactor is a multi functional unit that can do numerous tasks. It can clean sanitary and storm sewers and it keeps my personnel from having to enter in to the dangerous confined space of a manhole. We use the Vactor to thaw out frozen storm sewers that appear every spring. With the proper ice nozzle we can open up more frozen lines in a morning than a crew of five men could do in a week using the old way with a steamer and tank truck. OUf current objective is to clean a minimum of35%, and hopefully 50% or more of the sanitary sewer system each year. OUf objective for storm sewers is to work with the Street division to clean as many storm sewer lines that have been determined to be in need of maintenance as we can. The neighboring cities have sewer cleaning machines and if ours or theirs go down for a major repair we have an informal co-use agreement that we will help that city by sending our Vactor plus the operator to help out. The fifteen year replacement schedule was set up back in 1988, when the new schedule was put in place. 15 years is probably more frequent than we need to replace the Vactor for the number of hours that we now put on it in a summer. The replacement of the Vactor could be moved back a couple of years and when it does get replaced it can be replaced vvith a smaller, less costly unit than we have now. If I had the same work force now as I had back when this Vactor was purchased, we could be more aggressive on both the sanitary and storm sewer system maintenance programs. The storm sewer regulations that the E.P.A. has proposed for storm water retention and run-off are going to add a new list of tasks that the city \Vill have to comply with and the Vactor will be an important piece of cleaning equipment that will help us comply "With the new regulations. In closing. the Vactor is a very important piece of equipment that we have found numerous uses for and with a good imagination we can always find new and varied uses for it.