Consideration and Approval of Contract:   Emergency purchase Master Lease/Rental Agreement for two solid waste trucks

Approve the emergency purchase Master Lease/Rental Agreement between Rush Truck Leasing, Inc. and the City for two solid waste trucks

Recently, Solid Waste Division has experienced an unprecedented number of major breakdowns of collection equipment. Examples of breakdowns occurring at the moment are: lift arm failure, transmission failure, differential failure, hydraulic and cooling system failures.
As a result of these constant failures and their frequency, Fleet has had to do the minimum amount of repairs in order to return said vehicles back to service.  We have four new trucks on order; however, delivery will be in six to eight months.

The cost for renting these trucks is as follows:   2016 Peterbuilt - $5,900/mo. or $76,700 total for 13 months and 2015 Peterbuilt - $6,800/mo. or $47,600 total for 7 months for a total rental cost of $124,300. The budget appropriation for this contract is being funded from account 211-06-166-0645-0-4401 as well as other operating budget line items.

No.

Continue operations with existing equipment and double shift the capable vehicles which would require extending landfill hours.

Factors that have contributed to this situation are as follows: The City purchased 10 collection vehicles in the same fiscal year due to a building fire that damaged multiple Solid Waste Collection vehicles. The City took delivery of these vehicles mid 2008. These 10 vehicles used an American LaFrance cab/chassis. At the time, this was a well established vehicle manufacturer with over 100 years of supplying quality fire apparatus and solid waste cab/chassis before being purchased in 1995 by Freightliner/Daimler Corporation. Unfortunately, this vendor became a casualty of our recent recession and ceased operations in January of 2014. The result has been the steady decline of service support, quality replacement parts and diagnostic resources. The City's Fleet Service department has had to fabricate parts, utilize used parts and in some cases, cannibalize our own equipment. More recently we have had to complete only necessary repairs rather than in-depth preventive repairs to maintain Solid Waste's service levels. A repair that normally might take 24 hours is taking weeks while we locate simple things like glass, sensors and emission control devices. Fleet Services has adjusted its schedule multiple times in order complete repairs during times when more equipment is available.

With the addition of these rental vehicles the City's Solid Waste Section should be able to maintain stable collection schedules while City's Fleet Services staff will be able to perform necessary repairs and pro-active preventive maintenance to existing equipment (not just oil changes), which has  been impacted this limited access. The current equipment situation has also created long hours for our operators which will eventually lead to driver fatigue and safety issues as well as lost productivity.

City staff has emergency purchase authority pursuant to its Procurement Code Manual Section 19.1 where there is a breakdown of machinery or an essential service which requires the immediate purchase of supplies or services to protect the public health, welfare or safety.  Council is being requested to approve (ratify) the rental agreement per Section19.2.

The cost for renting these trucks is as follows:   2016 Peterbuilt - $5,900/mo. or $76,700 total for 13 months and 2015 Peterbuilt - $6,800/mo. or $47,600 total for 7 months for a total rental cost of  $124,300. 
 

This agreement will allow Fleet services the time and resources to make a significant impact towards improving the safety and reliability with Solid of Solid Waste collection equipment and their ability to provide consistent and productive trash/recycling service to citizens and businesses in the City of Flagstaff.

Inform

Continue operations with existing equipment and double shift the capable vehicles which would require extending landfill hours.