Agenda Packets - 2014/05/27 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Item No:07G Meeting Date: May 27, 2014 Type of Business: Council Business Administrator Review: ____ City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: Don Peterson, Public Works Supervisor Item Title/Subject: Resolution 8265, Approving a Contract with Pump and Meter Service, Inc. to Install an Unleaded Fuel Station at the Public Works Maintenance Facility Background The gasoline-powered vehicles and equipment used by Public Works and the Police Department are re-fueled off-site at various vendors in the city, while diesel powered vehicles and equipment are re-fueled on-site at the existing diesel fueling station located at the Public Works Maintenance Facility. Over the last few years the city has purchased diesel fuel for the Public Works vehicles off the state contract. This has saved the city tens of thousands of dollars over re-fueling at off-site vendor locations. The City is mandated to record and report fuel usage fees to the state based on the type of equipment. Public Works staff currently reads the diesel fuel used manually by the dial numbers on the pump and record it on a paper log. At the end of each month this log and the tank monitoring system are reconciled. At times the hand written logs and the tank monitor are off by 50 or more gallons. Staff needs to go back and try to piece together the shortage or overage of fuel to best guess what was used and report this to the state for proper user fees. Every two years the city is audited by the state. Staff has been informed that the state is going to require more accountability of fuel usage and accurate reconciliation of fuel used. The current diesel fueling system is comprised of a 5,000-gallon underground tank, a pumping station, and a tank leak detection system that includes a monitor located inside the Public Works Supervisor’s office. The leak detection system is mandated by Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) to detect any leaks in the underground storage tank. Discussion Staff has researched upgrading the current fuel monitoring system and expanding the state fuel purchasing program for unleaded gasoline fuel. On-site fueling options provide convenience, work efficiency, employee accountability, accurate consumption records, and would prevent the driving of non-licensed equipment (mowers, carts etc.) to private gas stations. It also avoids the need to fill 5 gallon gas cans and have the potential of spilling fuel. The proposed upgrades would require employees to swipe a card, enter the vehicle number, along with vehicle mileage. The system would record the information and send it to a software program that would track the fuel usage as well as mileage of the vehicle. Staff would no longer need to spend time logging and recording fuel use for non taxed vehicles and equipment. The software system will track the usage track fuel that needs to be taxed and track the mileage of all vehicles. This would allow staff to monitor and perform required maintenance. By using the State contract for unleaded fuel, the city would see a significant cost savings in fuel budgets of all the departments: Police, Public Works, and Community Development. Last year (2013), the City used 19,681.73 gallons of unleaded fuel costing an estimated $65,537.73 using an average price of $3.33 a gallon. If the City had purchased unleaded fuel from the State fuel