The City of Billings is eligible and has made an application to the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) for a new street sweeper as part of the Montana Air and Congestion Initiative (MACI) statewide program. As a result of that application, the City of Billings was selected to receive a new Elgin mechanical broom sweeper. The program requires that the City pay 13.42% of the total cost for the new sweeper and requires that the city sign an agreement with MDT for that sweeper. This sweeper will replace the oldest sweeper in the Public Works fleet that is scheduled for replacement this year through the equipment replacement program (ERP). This sweeper will be delivered to MDT in Helena and the City of Billings will be required to transport the unit from Helena to Billings.

The Public Works Department owns and operates six street sweepers. The downtown area is swept every day that weather permits and each street in the city is swept during spring cleanup in March and April. Following spring cleanup, the sweepers continue to sweep the city streets as weather permits.

The City Council may:

• Approve the statewide air quality equipment purchase agreement between the City of Billings and the State of Montana for a new street sweeper and authorize payment, or
• Do not approve the statewide air quality equipment purchase agreement between the City of Billings and the State of Montana for a new street sweeper. In this alternative the City would purchase a new sweeper as approved in the ERP and pay 100% of the cost of that sweeper.

MDT has bid the purchase of this and other sweepers for the statewide air quality equipment purchase program. The total cost of the sweeper is $203,141. MDT will pay 86.58% of this amount ($175,879) and the City will be responsible for 13.42% ($27,262) of this amount. The City’s funding will come from the money that was reserved for the purchase of the new sweeper through the ERP. In addition, the agreement requires that the city pay MDT for indirect costs (IDC) which are currently estimated at 9.64% applied toward the total project contribution of the city.  The IDC costs are in addition to the local match and are subject to change by MDT.  The IDC is estimated to be under $2,700. The City will also be responsible for transportation costs of the unit from Helena to Billings, which are estimated to be $1,000.

Staff recommends that the City Council approve the Agreement between the City of Billings and the State of Montana for the new street sweeper and authorize payment for the City’s portion of the sweeper, the IDC costs for MDT and the transportation costs for the new sweeper.