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CITY OF WEIRTON SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES APRIL 19, 2005 Meeting called to order. Councilman in Attendance: Councilman DeMasis Councilman Miller Councilman Moore Councilman Dorich - Sick Councilman Dalrymple Councilman Veltri Councilman Kondik Councilman Kondik made an announcement that the German Exchange Team, via Rotary, will be touring the City Building tomorrow, like they normally do. Then they will go to the Community Center and Library and this happens between 9:30 a.m. and 12 p.m. if anyone would like to come they are more than welcome. Anyone on Council, if they would like to come for lunch at noon they are more than welcome. Lunch will be at Milsop Community Center. NEW BUSINESS Resolution to Adopt Levy Rates for 2005-06 Fiscal Year. It was moved by Councilman Moore and second Councilman Veltri to approve this Resolution. It was unanimously approved. Resolution to Enter Into Contract for the Purchase of Vacuum Street Sweeper for Public Works Department. It was moved by Councilman Veltri and second by Councilman DeMasis to approve this Resolution. Councilman Kondik asked about the cost of the extended warranty and the breakdown presented to the Council. Brae explained that it was a 2 to 5 years plan for parts and/or labor. They have not received information from the factory regarding the details of this warranty, so he is not prepared to make a recommendation in regard to purchasing this warranty. From the experience that Public Works has had, there are items excluded in these warranties, so without that detail he is unable to make any recommendation. He also had been talking to bidder and the City has up to one (1) year to purchase the extended warranty. It is his intent to get more information and bring it back for the Council Meeting in May. Councilman Kondik is expressing his concerns about the purchase of a street sweeper, because it seems they are always broke. They are always in need of a part or something. They have talked about an extended warranty for years. Councilman Moore stated that he has a more present concern is, if Pubic Works has the manpower to operate this piece of equipment? He knows they have a sidewalk sweeper, but wondered if it was broken? Brae said it was not broken, but they did not have the manpower to operate it. Councilman Miller asked Brae Bryant, Director of Public Works, how long it would take to get this sweeper, and he said that they told him 8 to 10 weeks, if the order were put in this week. Councilman Miller asked if the current sweeper was out of commission? Brae said that they have two (2) street sweepers. One is a 1999 Elgin Geo-Vac, which has just been put back into service this week, and a Johnston Sweeper, which is a 1994-5, and it is out of service. They are trying to work out a trade-in option, within this bid package, and they have submitted a bid on that piece of equipment, but the Johnston will be out of service. Councilman Kondik asked if the Johnston could be sold on the open market somewhere, andMr. Bryant commented that they would attempt to do that. The 99 Elgin was out of service but it is now repaired. One of the cylinders on the hopper door would not open, and they had to wait for the parts. The Councilman wanted to know how much that part cost, and the man-hours that it cost to put that part on? The man-hours to put that part on was 4-hours, and the cost was $1500. Councilman also asked if there was an extended warranty for the 4th year? Mr. Bryant said that the warranty would not have covered that part. Because of the questions that Council had, Councilman Moore mentioned running a history on the 99 Elgin so they have something to compare to that would show the service on the 99 and whether it would be worth buying an extended warranty. Mr. Bryant is going from memory as he commented on the past problems with the current sweeper , that they were wear items and not covered under warranty. Mr. DuFour interjected that his past experience with Elgin Whirlwinds has not been good. He asked Brae about the warranty on a liner for the Elgin sweeper, and that was in reference to the hopper liner and the suction hoses, and it is a Life Time Extended Warranty. It is the only liner offered with these sweepers and Elgin is the only company that offers this type of warranty on them. Councilman DeMasis asked Mr. Bryant if the State was responsible for Main Street? He said that the state roads in municipal corporations, in regards to sweeping, it is the responsibility of that municipality. Other maintenance such as patching, plowing, salting, paving, etc. is the responsibility of the State Department of Highways. He also stated that they do have a sweeper out at night, and they have been working on Main Street, Cove Road, Pennsylvania Avenue, Culler Road, and all the state roads within this municipality. Mr. DuFour asked when the second machine would be running again, and Brae said it would not be back up. They do work with two sweepers and the one is a 1976 Elgin Pelican, which is used for a specific purpose. It is brought out in the spring to deal with State routes, which have the heavy cinders and used for a couple of weeks and put away again. Councilman Moore commented that he had gotten a call from a resident asking when the City was going to start picking up lawn waste? The bottom line is that we have a reduced staff. If the residents want these services increased then the staffing will have to increase also, and that will cost money. What he is getting at is asking the public if Council should add staff or continue the path of the 18-months that they have left? If we buy a sweeper, it will become priority to run the sweeper. But, that means that something on the back end as in other responsibilities do not go away; those things just take a lower priority. Again, Councilman Moore is looking for a direction. He is getting calls where residents want expanded services. These additions to services are going to require an increase in staffing or are they going to stay with the staff that the City now has, which will push some services to the back and others to the front; such as picking up of yard waste, last year we didn't seal any city streets. These are things that are set by priority level by this department based on the staffing that he has. Councilman Moore asks his colleagues and asks the public, in general, do they want to return some staff or operate with the staff that we have? The calls are coming in for increased services, but they have to realize that there is a cost to that. Mr. Bryant reminded the public and Council that the yard waste can be dropped off at the Public Works Department at 100 Tell Street, between the hours of 7 a.m. and 3 p.m., Monday through Friday. Councilman Miller commented that he gets a little confused, on the street sweeper, when we discuss staff, because we run it at night. Mr. Bryant was asked if two sweepers ran when they were operational? Mr. Bryant commented that they run one at night and one during the day, and right now they were doing three (3) nights a week. Prior to the staff reduction we did that five (5) nights a week. To keep up all the State routes in the business district it would take five (5) nights a week. Mr. Bryant also commented that even after the heavy cinders are cleaned up, because of the trucks that operate throughout the day, there is still requires weekly maintenance. There were no more comments or questions. It had been moved and second to accept this Resolution. It was unanimously approved. Prayer ADJOURNMENT
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