Athens city leaders plan to put some of the city’s oldest vehicles — such as street cleaners, police cruisers and pumper trucks — to rest this year and replace them with state-of-the art vehicles that are more efficient but pricey.
The city’s street cleaner is a decade old but has the greatest need to be replaced, said Councilwoman Chris Knisely, D-at large.
“It has a lot of wear and tear,” Knisely said. “It’s been compared to a helicopter, that every four hours of use requires an hour of maintenance.”
The city has spent roughly $5,000 per year — about $50,000 — repairing the street cleaner, she said. Replacing it could cost $220,000. The city considered leasing the street cleaner, but officials came to the conclusion that purchasing it was a better deal.
“It’s a fair amount of repair per year on it,” Knisely said. “It’s like an older car. Do we need to just replace it, instead of repairing it? That’s the point that we’re at.”
Councilwoman Michele Papai, D-3rd ward, said the city has to purchase the vehicle through a state contracting system.
“(Gov. John Kasich’s) administration has connections through different companies when the vehicle is over a certain amount of money,” Papai said.
Mayor Paul Wiehl said the street cleaner will most likely be replaced this year, while the scheduled replacement of the Athens fire department pumper truck may take a bit longer.
“That’s our biggest item to replace,” Wiehl said.
The pumper truck, about 20 years old, will cost $550,000 to replace. The city is still paying for its new $1.1 million ladder truck, which was the last big purchase for the fire department.
“It’s very likely, just like the ladder truck, that we’ll have to borrow money to pay for it over time,” Knisely said. “Sometimes we borrow from the Hocking Valley Bank.”
Ohio University put up $250,000 toward the ladder truck to help the city manage the cost, but it wasn’t immediately clear as of press time if the city would ask OU for help to pay for the pumper truck.
Knisely said city officials are undecided on whether the pumper truck should be purchased new or used.
The city is also slated to purchase a new police cruiser this year, though costs are still up in the air. The city’s current street cleaner will most likely be repurposed as a leaf pickup machine because it is too old to be sold at a sufficient benefit to the city.
“This is all part of keeping our vehicles up-to-date so we can provide safety for all the citizens of Athens,” Knisely said.
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