12-19-2018 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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STAFF REPORT TO: Mayor Keis and Members of the City Council FROM: Bill Dircks, Public Works Director DATE: December 14, 2018 RE: Purchase of Sewer Cleaning Machine ACTION TO BE CONSIDERED: Motion to approve the purchase of an Aquatech jetter/vacuum combination sewer cleaning machine from Flexible Pipe Tool Company at a price of $390,962.00 plus tax and license fees, which should be around $7000. BACKGROUND: In 1999 the City purchased a Vactor brand jetter/vacuum combination sewer cleaning machine. It was the first machine of that type that the City had purchased. Prior to that the City used a jetter and a rodder. The combination machine allowed staff to clean the sewer mains and also vacuum manholes, lift station wet wells, storm sewer catch basins, water main excavations, and numerous other activities. The machine has been a workhorse for the City and has allowed us to keep up on our sewer maintenance program and meet the League of MN Cities Insurance Trust standards, which has reduced our insurance rate. The Vactor is now nearly 20 years old and has reached the end of its useful life. A new pump had to be installed just a few months ago after the original pump finally failed and other issues have begun to show up as well. The vacuum for the Vactor is a fan unit, which is not as efficient for sucking out manholes and lift stations as a positive displacement (PD) unit is. A PD unit allows the operator to submerge the tubes and still draw up sewage or water. The fan unit stops sucking when the tube becomes submerged. With this in mind, staff researched new combination machines over the past year and narrowed the choices down to two brands: Aquatech and Vactor. Both have a PD vacuum unit and similar jetter setups. Both can be installed on any type of chassis and can carry the same amount of water and have similar sized waste tanks. The main difference between the two units is where the jetter reel is located. The Vactor has the reel in the front of the truck just like our existing Vactor. The Aquatech has the reel in the back of the truck. The main reason for the rear- mounted jetter reel on the Aquatech is for operator comfort. The reel at the front of the truck can be very hot and loud with the chassis engine right next to the operator. The clutch fan kicks in often on our existing Vactor and blows hot air at the operator. The rear-mounted reel is much quieter and cooler. The sacrifice is it is potentially a little less safe on busier roads due to the operator being exposed to traffic without the buffer of 40 feet of machine between the operator and oncoming vehicles. For most of the City’s streets this is not an