Consideration and Approval of Contract of Purchase Through the National Joint Powers Alliance (NJPA) Cooperative Purchasing Agreement: Zamboni Model 546 Ice Resurfacer, with accessories.

The reason for the action is the City's need to replace older and unreliable equipment with newer more efficient equipment that will allow the Recreation Section to maintain and enhance its current level of service.

• The Zamboni will be paid within the FY14 budget cycle. The source of these funds will be from the Fleet Catastrophic Fund account number 001-06-154-0557-3-4401 with a FY2014 Budget of $1,697,340.    
• This fund will be replenished in FY15 with the General Fund Fleet Capital allocation that is currently projected to be $757,000.
• The purchase of one (1) Zamboni Model 546 Ice Resurfacer is $100,805.28.

 Fund existing and consider expanded recreational services
 

No

Option A:  Accept the Cooperative Agreement with National Joint Powers Alliance contract number 022113-FZC that was formally solicited through the State of Minnesota for the bid amount of $100,805.28.
Option B: Conduct competitive bid process.
Option C: Continue to rely on the existing emergency back up ice resurfacer

     

Within the Recreation Services fleet, we currently have two Zamboni ice resurfacers. In 2009 the Fleet Committee approved the purchase of a new ice resurfacer but as a result of budget reductions that purchase was deferred to a future date. In September of FY14, the Fleet Committee again approved the requisition of a new ice resurfacer. In October of FY14, the Budget Committee also approved the expense.

The oldest ice resurfacer is 30 years old (1983) and has a life to date cost of $15,850.00. This piece of equipment acts as an emergency back up to the primary ice resurfacer. This machine has some significant challenges, as parts are no longer available for this model and some key mechanical systems no longer function and are not repairable. The sole purpose of this ice resurfacer is to function as an "emergency only" back up to the primary machine. If used for an extended period of time the quality of the ice would degrade significantly as the machine is very limited in its abilities. There is minimal trade in value for this machine and our recommendation would be to keep the machine and utilize any parts from it that may benefit the current primary ice resurfacer.

The current primary ice resurfacer is 17 years old (1995) and has a life to date cost of $83,410.78. This Zamboni requires a great deal of continuous maintenance in order to function as the primary machine. This piece of equipment is on its fourth engine and is in use 7 days a week 50 weeks out of the year. In order for us to address this consistent use, Fleet Maintenance conducts repairs on a regular basis. It is our intention to move this ice resurfacer into the emergency back up position while putting the new machine into use as the new primary piece of equipment. This would be an ideal scenario as the current primary ice resurfacer is 100% functional and could operate for extended periods of time while preventative maintenance is conducted on the new piece of equipment. This would happen without a decrease in service levels and will also give Fleet Maintenance the proper time in which to implement a thorough preventative maintenance program that will help ensure we have full functioning ice resurfacing for the next 20 plus years.

The timing of this purchase is unique as it requires 8 months to build and deliver a new Zamboni Ice Resurfacer. Once approved this machine will be delivered in May of 2013 if we place the order before 2014. After this date the delivery will be moved to July or August of 2014. Our goal is to have the new Zamboni delivered in the current fiscal year to simplify the process.

When preparing to purchase a new ice resurfacer, staff became aware of a cooperative agreement through the state of Minnesota that could be used for the purchase. The state of Minnesota conducted formal solicitation for bids to purchase ice resurfacers and the process included the Frank J. Zamboni & Co, Inc.  

The warranty of the equipment is for twenty four (24) months or 2,000 hours and would cover parts replacement only.

The City of Flagstaff has a long working relationship with the Zamboni Company for over 20 years and currently has two of their ice resurfacers in our fleet. Fleet maintenance is also very familiar with this piece of equipment and has a long and positive working relationship with the Zamboni Company.  Zamboni has always been responsive to our needs, and have been partners in trouble shooting issues and in locating hard to find parts for our current inventory.

In September of FY2013, the Fleet Committee voted to approve the replacement of the emergency back up resurfacer. Normally this approval would allow us to purchase a new ice resurfacer in FY15 using FY15 General Fund Fleet capital funds. The option was brought forward to purchase the new ice resurfacer in FY14 using the Fleet Catastrophic funds. This would allow us to take delivery of the new ice resurfacer in May of 2014 as compared to waiting until March or April of 2015. The FY15 Fleet capital fund allocation would then replenish the Catastrophic fund in the amount of $100,805.28. The rationale behind this is the fact that both ice resurfacers are quite old (17 and 30 years) and if the current primary machine were to go off line for an extended period of time we would not be able to maintain the current level of service due to the age, deficiencies and unreliability of the emergency back up machine. Additionally, ice resurfacers are not a piece of equipment that the city could lease from a local equipment rental company as they are simply not available.  It is for these reasons we are requesting approval to purchase a new ice resurfacer in the unique manner described in this section.

One of the deciding factors to move forward with the cooperative agreement and not send out an RFP is the fact that there are only two vendors that manufacture ice resurfacers. The cooperative language through the state of Minnesota offers substantial savings as they have  significant buying power as they purchase a large number of these machines relative to other government entities.

The community will experience immediate benefits from the purchase of this piece of equipment. Current levels of service will be enhanced with the addition of a reliable ice resurfacer.  Down time will be less frequent and shorter in duration. Ice arenas are a specialty amenity and ours is enjoyed by many of Flagstaff's community members.  There are a few key components needed to ensure that the arena remains open to the public and to our user groups. One of these is the ice resurfacer. Without it, maintaining the ice in a safe and usable manner would not be possible. The purchase of a new ice resurfacer will help ensure that Flagstaff and its residents have access to high quality ice for many years to come.

Recreation staff have informed user groups of the possible purchase of a new ice resurfacer. There has been overwhelming support from those we have informed. This was also brought before the Parks and Recreation commission without issue.