Department of Public Works Director David Billips speaks to the City Council Finance Committee. (Photo by Amy Porter)
WESTFIELD – Department of Public Works Director David Billips told the Finance Committee at Wednesday’s budget review that he has a five-year plan to replace trash trucks.
Billips said the life of a trash truck is five to seven years, and the department went 10 years without buying one, then bought two trucks in three years. He said this year the department has the opportunity, due to the end of an $116,000 annual cart payment for barrels, to put a new plan in place for vehicles.
He said right now they have two used trash trucks, costing $55,000 a year, two rentals at $90,000 a year, and two Internationals that are paid for, but leaky, and they will be lucky to keep on the road. He said new trucks cost $65,000 to $70,000. For a one-time increase of $22,370 in FY20, they could invest in two new trucks, and after that the budget will actually decrease for vehicles once lease payments stop.
“We have this opportunity, and have the money in the budget, to purchase trucks,” Billips said, adding that there is a 10 to 12 month lead time on trash trucks. His plan is to purchase two trucks for next March or April, and two more the following year.
“You can continue to swap these trucks out. You’re always going to have a car payment, but we will be in this steady state where we’re turning over trash trucks. I’m not even sure when we get to that point, whether we’ll need them,” Billips said. He said they have to break the cycle of renting trucks they get no return on. He also said the mistake they made back in 2003 and 2004 was to buy a bunch of trucks all at the same time.
Running down the list of other DPW departments, Billips said the administration’s budget only includes contractual increases. In the Highway Division, the Mayor cut $120,000 for a wash rack, and $100,000 for fire suppression for the garage.
The Construction line item for roads in the budget remains the same at $400,000, plus $1.2 million in Chapter 90 funds. Billips said they’ve been able to work the construction and highway budgets back up, adding they did get some money from the meals tax. He said a few years ago, the Council asked him to work up a capital plan for highway trucks, which showed that when they get to a certain point, it’s less expensive to buy trucks than to fix them. He said they didn’t implement that capital plan, and still have an issue with trucks and with staff.
“We need $4 million, and we don’t even have $2 million,” Billips said. He said Snow & Ice remains at $400,000 in the budget, the only line item that may be deficit-funded.
Asked about stormwater, Billips said they need $590,000 per year, and are generating $550,000 from fees. “We’re short already. We know the fee increase is in front of the Council. If you don’t address the stormwater issues, you’re paving the roads for nothing,” he said. The stormwater fee increase is on the agenda for Thursday’s regular City Council meeting.
Finance Committee member John J. Beltrandi, III commented that he previously had concerns about where the money went in stormwater over the past several years, but when he received a report from the auditor on the past four years, he saw that it is being directed to doing projects.
Billips then talked about the “extremely talented people” that the DPW has in the department. “There is not enough money to do what we need to do. It’s incredible what our people do, and save by doing (projects) in-house,” he said, adding, “Our people don’t stop until they find the best way to do something.”
Billips said he did recommend to the Mayor that every city budget be cut by 1%, to generate an additional $1.4 million to put toward roads.
Following Billips, City Engineer Mark Cressotti said construction items in this year’s budget will include completing the design for Western Avenue East, the second phase of the project. He said they are about a year and a half out for the design and advertising, once Western Avenue Central is completed.
Also in the budget is design work for Interchange 3 at the Turnpike. Cressotti said they believe they have suggestions to give MassDOT to improve traffic, and need some funding for the design.
Another budget item in 2020 are for a signal light at Union St., which he said the City Council voted to approve. Cressotti said the design is done, permitting is almost complete. “We just need construction dollars to see it through,” he said.
Other projects slated for this year are completing the parking lot on Central Street for land the city has acquired, and improvements on Arnold Street.
Cressotti said the mayor cut a proposal for a Westfield River multi-use trail, saying it should be done with Community Preservation Act funds rather than through the construction budget. A project to pave and redesign the Mill at Crane Pond in conjunction with the work on Cowles Bridge was also cut, but Cressotti said he hopes to fund it with residuals later on.
“There’s a need for more improvements across the board. Chapter 90 is not sufficient to maintain road conditions,” Cressotti said, adding that the Mayor has taken a bold step in funding some of these projects. “I hope the Council would side with mayor in his approach, so we can see another step forward,” Cressotti said.
