By Ashley M. Casey
Staff Writer
Lysander’s recently elected Highway Superintendent Jerry Hole and Town Engineer Al Yager are hoping to get the town board to greenlight a plan to begin replacing the highway fleet.
Hole and Yager presented their preliminary numbers to the town board at the work session preceding the Feb. 15 meeting. The proposal would replace eight plow trucks over the next five years. Hole said this replacement plan would stabilize the town’s spending on highway vehicles, keep repair costs low and increase resale revenue.
“This is when the rubber has to meet the road when the snow’s hitting the ground, so it’s very critical that we keep a good fleed, a serviceable fleet,” Hole said.
Recently, Hole said, four of the highway department’s eight main plow trucks went down in one day. While two of the trucks were back up and running the same day, an aging fleet can easily be hobbled by expensive and lengthy repairs. Another truck is in the shop undergoing $20,000 in work for its pollution control system. The 2018 budget allots $96,000 for repairs and parts.
“If you take one of my main pieces of equipment out for repair, it puts the public at risk,” Hole said
Hole said he has spoken at length with Tim Hunt, highway superintendent for the town of Cazenovia. Hunt, he said, has implemented a seven-year vehicle replacement program that he considers a success.
Under Yager and Hole’s plan, the town would participate in a lease-to-own program, paying $44,000 per vehicle per year for five years with a five-year warranty.
“Basically, we’ll be on the hook for [routine] maintenance,” Hole told the town board.
After the five years are up, the town could either keep the trucks or sell them. Hole said Hunt advertises his vehicles in Superintendent’s Profile, a monthly publication for New York state highway and DPW officials.
“Usually, within two weeks of buying, he has a cash buyer from another municipality,” Yager said.
Yager said Hunt sold a truck to a town north of Watertown for $110,000, making back more than half of the $200,000 he paid for the truck.
Lysander, on the other hand, has been selling old trucks through Auctions International, which Yager said sells mostly to small landscapers and contractors. Yager said there is little demand for the town’s six-wheeled plow trucks in that market.
“We’re disposing of these trucks and getting $5,000 for them,” Yager said.
Hole said even though the town has “some old relics,” much of the fleet is marketable because of the plow packages and the automatic transmissions. Only two vehicles in Lysander’s fleet have standard transmissions.
“We’re still on the front side of being able to liquidate ours more easily,” Hole said.
Supervisor Joe Saraceni said his goal for the highway budget was to put $175,000 per year into a capital reserve account for five years. The resulting $875,000 would purchase roughly four trucks.
“Interest rates are going to go up. Given that, I wanted to get off the finance train,” Supervisor Joe Saraceni said.
Saraceni said he wanted to compare Hole and Yager’s plan with a plan to purchase highway trucks outright with a five-year warranty and partnering with the Baldwinsville Central School District for repairs once the district has built its transportation facility on West Entry Road, less than half a mile from the Lysander Highway Department facility.
Saraceni said the older vehicles are the town’s “go-to standbys” and that newer trucks have not yet proved to be more reliable.
“Your replacement schedule is fast, which is really stressing the budget,” Saraceni said.
Deputy Supervisor Bob Geraci said he agreed with Saraceni’s comments and added that he was concerned about escalating equipment expenditures.
“If you’re comparing [Cazenovia to Lysander] and saying they’re half the size we are, then you’re asking for $240,000 because they’re spending $120,000… We’re at $175,000, so that’s a big digest,” Geraci said.
Geraci also questioned the projected revenue from re-selling trucks.
“You’ve got a revenue built in that we’ve never seen before,” he said.
Councilor Pete Moore asked Hole and Yager to reconfigure their plan with more conservative numbers.
“If you can make this project work — and it looks like you can — with $175,000, run those numbers for us,” he said. “If the dream world says we need $240,000, then that is buying instead of leasing. Run those numbers.”
Hole said he and Yager would modify their plan to address the board’s concerns, and Saraceni stressed that this presentation was only the first step in the process.
Parks and rec outlines spray park costs
Lysander Recreation Supervisor Tony Burkinshaw presented an estimate of the annual cost of running a spray park at an informational meeting held Feb. 15 at Lysander Town Hall. It would cost the town $21,115.20 annually to run the spray park.
According to Burkinshaw’s business plan for the potential spray park, the town would spend $15,000 on water and $6,115.20 for one staff supervisor paid minimum wage. He said the town of Camillus spends $15,000 annually on water for its spray park.
Burkinshaw said the town’s existing playground insurance would also cover a spray park, and adding one employee to the park’s staff would be sufficient. Any repairs to the spray park would be paid for through the Parks and Recreation Department’s capital improvement fund.
“What we were allocating to our summer playground program — which was much higher — we would take that and substitute it for these amenities … if it goes through,” Burkinshaw told the Messenger.
The town ended its summer playground program after low enrollment last summer.
Residents have been carrying a petition to force a referendum on the town board’s Jan. 18 resolution allowing Lysander to borrow up to $400,000 for the spray park. The petition was due in the town clerk’s office Tuesday, Feb. 20, as town offices were closed Monday, Feb. 19, for Presidents Day. (Editor’s note: The Messenger went to print Monday, Feb. 19.)
Burkinshaw said the town would explore other ways to fund the creation of a spray park if the bond matter is defeated in a referendum.
