The Salina City Commission approves $800,000 for a garbage truck storage building
After another increase in the overall cost, construction will begin soon on the building that will be used to store Salina’s new garbage trucks.
The Salina City Commission voted to approve more than $800,000 for a reduced bid for a sanitation equipment storage building during its meeting Monday.
When first proposed in November 2021, the cost of the building was estimated at $375,000, but changes to the design of the facility, which will primarily house the city’s new Automated Side Loader (ASL) bagging trucks, have seen that estimate revised. In addition, increasing construction costs due to inflation and other factors meant that bids came in well above the original estimate.
“We have identified … an industrial-type building that will serve us,” said Jim Quach, director of operations for the city’s Department of Public Works. “It’s insulated, it’s going to park the six (ASL) trucks, it’s going to have a wash bay… (and) a mechanic’s pit where we can at least do some minor maintenance on it.”
The low bid came after what Koch described as “good competition” in the bidding process.
“We had five bidders, and the low bidder was a local construction company that did a lot of work for the city, Bonton Construction,” Quach said.
The initial plan for the building was to use funding from a 15-cent-per-month increase for sanitation customers to underwrite the original cost of $375,000, but another option was presented to the commission to pay for the building with cash already in the sanitation department’s budget.
The committee apparently liked the idea of paying cash up front for the project because it would not incur the interest charges associated with underwriting the cost, like what was originally proposed.
Ultimately, the commission voted 4-0 to use cash reserves from the sewer fund in the amount of $812,242 and award the project bid to Bonton.
According to Koach, the project should be completed by the fall of 2024.
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Other business of the Salina City Commission
The city committee meeting also included the following items:
- Declaring November as National Home and Hospice Month in the city.
- Approved, on second reading, loan agreements with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the State of Kansas to finance the city’s wastewater treatment plant and drinking water service lines.
- Authorizing the City Manager to enforce agreements with Fire Appliances, Inc. and JTL Construction for repairs to the Salina Fire Department’s training tower at a cost of $42,436.
- Approval, on first reading, of a charter ordinance, relieving the City of certain portions of the 1937 and 1939 State Session Acts relating to the transfer of land from the City to Salina in the amount of $305.
