03-13-2002 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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Yet/4 (eaNeda 515 Little Canada Road, Little Canada, MN 55117-1600 (651) 766 -4029 / FAX: (651) 766 -4048 www.ci.little-eanada.mn.us MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor Fahey & Members of the City Council FROM: Greg Schroeder, Public Works Director DATE: March 8, 2002 RE: Purchase of Used Tractor MAYOR Michael I. Fahey COUNCIL Beverly Scalze Jim LaValle Matt Anderson Rick Montour ADMINISTRATOR Joel R. Hanson In the 2002 General Capital Improvement Budget, we estimated the cost of $9,000 to install a front - end mounted bucket attachment on our existing Ford tractor. This attachment was warranted because we lost our capability to load sand in our sanding trucks with our Bobcat due to its higher use for blowing or sweeping snow from the Little Canada Road sidewalk and other trails in the City. Upon contacting the dealer to install the front -end bucket attachment we were informed that they had made an error and our tractor was not set up correctly for this attachment and it would cost over $11,000 to install this attachment, alter the frame, add weights and new tires (basically turn an agriculture type tractor into a construction type). Staff determined that this was not cost effective and started investigating other alternatives. We looked at renting a Bobcat or small loader during the winter months and determined the following: Bobcat $900/ month for 4 months = $3,600/ year Loader /Backhoe $1,300/ month for 4 months = $5,200/ year Cat 914 Loader $2, 075/ month for 4 months = $8,300/ year As you can see this would be very expensive for the city. While looking for alternatives to enable us to load sand into our trucks and continue to remove snow from our streets, sidewalks, and trails, we carne to the conclusion that the used tractor type equipment that would enable use to load trucks usually had something attached to the back end. No one sold a small rubber tire front loader that would meet our needs. As a result we started looking at tractor type combination loader /backhoes. You may know that we have been renting a small tractor loader /backhoe to enable us to efficiently repair some of our storm sewer systems over the last few years. Thus, we are able to justify this type of equipment more since it would be used year round. We contacted local dealers and searched the internet to try to find a loader /backhoe within our budget. To our surprise, we found used equipment to be very expensive for what you got. For example: 11...CiregS'Con'esponde cc -Dreg 8 2OO2'Purchasc of tractor.doc