DATE: November 3, 2014
TO: Board of Mayor and Aldermen
FROM: Eric Stuckey, City Administrator
Becky Caldwell, Sanitation & Environmental Services Director
SUBJECT:
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Consideration of Purchase of Mechanical Cranes to Process Volume at Century Court Transfer Station (11/13/14 Finance 3-0).
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Purpose
The purpose of this memo is to provide information to the Franklin Board of Mayor and Aldermen (BOMA) concerning the need to purchase mechanical cranes to use in processing solid wastes through the City-owned transfer station at the Municipal Services Complex.
Background
When the Solid Waste Department first moved to the Municipal Services Complex, approximately eleven (11) years ago, there were concrete platforms adjacent to the tipping floor as part of the initial construction. The plan was to install crane-like attachments to these platforms which would allow us a clearer view of the transfer station pit and provide our operators the ability to perform the work of the backhoe without having equipment on the tipping floor, saving space on the tipping floor for added volumes of waste as well as the refuse loader. These cranes were never installed as the design of the facility was not consistent with the cranes available in the market at the time of construction.
The increased volume of wastes being transferred through our facility led staff to re-visit the availability of cranes that would safely and appropriately serve our transfer station needs. We met with engineers from Allied Construction Products, LLC. This vendor offered electric cranes that would not only serve the function now performed by the existing backhoes, but also offer cleaner air and a safer work environment for those working in and around the transfer station.
Recently, one (1) of our backhoe units experienced catastrophic failure which will require, at a minimum, $30,000 worth of repairs.
According to Fleet Maintenance records, we have spent approx...
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