David Billips, Director of Westfield Department of Public Works.
WESTFIELD – In the Finance sub-committee on Wednesday, Department of Public Works Director David Billips spoke about the request of $190,000 from Free Cash for a vehicle purchase for the Waste Collection Division.
“I have a plan. This is the first step,” Billips told Finance chair Brent B. Bean, II and member Dan Allie at the meeting. Billips said the department has been “chasing our tail,” with two used trucks, two rentals and two or three others, to keep them running.
The $190,000 request is for a rear loader to use in tight spots, such as Hampton Ponds. He said he will also have funds for two new trucks in the budget this year.
“The problem is we pay $90,000 a year to rent trucks, when you can buy them for $70,000,” Billips said.
Billips said for a net increase of $20,000 over what the budget has been the last two years, which more or less coincides with the end of the two leases, he can buy two new trucks, and solve the trash truck problem in perpetuity. He said regarding the lease-end dates, they may have extra trash trucks for a couple of months.
“We need Free Cash to buy the rear loader – it’s a one-time deal,” he said, adding that the rear loader can be used for other things, such as leaf pickup.
“So you want to wean from rentals. How many trucks are there now,” asked Bean.
“We try to have five trucks a day,” Billips said. He said new trucks have a stated lifetime of five to seven years, but they last closer to seven to nine years. He said they got into the $90,000 rentals because they hadn’t bought trucks in so long.
Allie asked whether the new rear loader will cost $190,000. Billips said there is some cushion built into that figure. Allie made the motion to recommend the transfer from Free Cash, which passed 2-0.
