Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Public Works

TO:	Chuck Soules, P.E., Public Works Director
FROM:	Robert Aaron, Fleet Division Manager Mike Perkins, Street Division Manager
DATE:	November 6, 2014
CC:	Tammy Bennett, Mark Thiel, Bob Brower, Dave Wagner, Mike Lawless
RE:	Backhoe Lease

Background

The Public Works Streets Division and the Utilities Department entered into a three (3) year lease for backhoes in the 2012 budget year.  This lease will be at its term on February 1, 2015. 

Public Works and Utilities have determined that the lease provides a lower cost of ownership over the life of the machine.  The Streets Division lease will be for three (3) backhoes and Utilities Department will lease two (2) backhoes.  On October 7, 2014, the City Commission authorized staff to solicit bids for the replacement of five (5) backhoes.

The current bid information has been submitted and is as follows.  The Utilities numbers in the chart below reflect a deduction for trade in value of unit #231.

Bidder	Individual Lease Payment Per Machine	Total of Lease Payments	Meets Specifications
Foley Equipment Co.	Streets:  $37,762.00 Utilities:  $17,762.79	Streets:   $113,288.37 Utilities:    $35,525.58 3yr total: $148,813.95	No
Victor L Phillips Co.	Streets:  $43,177.37 Utilities:  $43,177.37 Utilities#2:$34,000.00	Streets:  $129,532.11 Utilities:   $43,177.37 Utilities#2:$34,000.00 3yr total: $206,709.48	No
Sellers Equipment	Streets:  $52,047.71 Utilities:  $52,047.71	Streets:   $156,143.13 Utilities:  $104,095.42 3yr total: $260,238.55	No
Murphy Tractor Co.	Streets:  $38,172.00 Utilities:  $30,690.00	Streets:   $114,516.00 Utilities:    $61,380.00 3yr total: $175,896.00	Yes

Foley Equipment 420F does not meet the specifications of extendable center of rear axle depth and failed to meet lifting capacity.  Victor L Phillips 590 Super N failed to meet planetary specifications and failed to submit Backhoe and Cab section of the bid.  Sellers Equipment Co. 3 CX-15 failed to meet extendable center of rear axle depth, planetary specifications, failed to submit bid page confirming full machine warranty.

These units are a crucial part of the City’s repair and maintenance of city services.  The lease option provides an additional budgetary tool known as a full machine warranty that helps keep unexpected repair costs down.  The only repairs that we perform would be on wearable items or operator damage.  This has proven to be an area of savings that also make the lease option a viable solution. 

Utilization

The city’s backhoe fleet is used for a wide variety of maintenance functions throughout the city operation.  These are versatile machines that serve important roles in keeping city services in working order.  The Utilities Department utilizes these machines for water main replacement, water main leak repairs, and water service installations.  The Public Works Department uses these machines in pavement rehab both concrete and asphalt, curb and gutter repair, replacement, and new construction. Storm water uses the backhoes for drainage work, clearing open drainage ditches, doing excavation for repairing and installing inlet and junction boxes, and excavating for the installation of culverts and drainage pipe. All three (3) backhoes makeup a major part of our snow and ice equipment, they are used to load de-icing materials, open intersections after plowing operations, and remove snow as needed from ADA access areas at crosswalk areas.

Funding

The adopted 2015 budget included fund allocation for this lease. Funding for these purchases will be from the 2015 operating budget.  

Action Request

Authorize the Public Works Streets Department and the Utilities Department to award the backhoe lease to Murphy Tractor of Topeka.  Purchase Orders will be submitted in the month of January 2015.