Staff recommends the City Council approve the purchase of two front-load collection trucks from SWS Equipment, LLC in the amount of $737,741.52.

The purchase of three front load collection trucks is included in the approved FY23 Equipment Replacement Plan and FY23 Solid Waste budget. This agenda item concerns the purchase for two of the three trucks.  These two trucks will be equipped with AutoCar chassis' and Newway trash bodies.  The front-load fleet is all Newway bodies except for two trucks.  The chassis' will be available in November, which means Solid Waste would receive a truck in service by the summer of 2023.  Utilizing Sourcewell and taking advantage of this opportunity with these chassis' will result in getting the collection trucks at least a year sooner than if the trucks were bid. It is important to note that the City has not received the trucks ordered in FY22 yet. The purchases will replace trucks with high mileage. Public Works intends to retain the old trucks until the route optimization project is complete and it is determined if additional routes and trucks are needed. If we later find the trucks are not needed, the City will sell or trade them during the next truck purchase process.

Sourcewell is a relatively new tool to the city for use in procurement. Historically, the city has been allowed to use state contracts to procure items if it was beneficial to the city. The purchasing policy has been updated to allow cooperative agreements beyond just the state contracts. Staff evaluates the procurement options to determine which option is the most beneficial for the city. In this instance, using Sourcewell is more beneficial to the city than bidding the trucks.

City Council may:

• Approve purchasing the front-load collection trucks through Sourcewell; or,
• Not approve the purchase. If the purchase is not approved, staff will need to bid the trucks, resulting in an 18-24 month delay before receiving new collection trucks.

The trucks are budgeted in FY23 using Solid Waste funds. The purchase price is approximately $20,000 more per truck than what is budgeted due to inflationary cost increases for equipment. The difference between the budget and the cost of the trucks will be made up by delaying other equipment or finding savings when purchasing other equipment.