Coventry council reviews DPW budget, sanitation truck funding and asset-management proposal

Coventry — The Coventry Town Council on Tuesday examined budget changes for the Department of Public Works that include a 10% salary increase for the DPW director to serve as the project manager for an upcoming town annex renovation, discussion of how to fund three new sanitation trucks, plans to reduce vehicle corrosion and a proposed $30,000 asset-management system with a citizen reporting portal.

Town Manager Perlow told the council the director’s pay increase is tied to an expanded role overseeing the annex project. “He’s going to take over that role, in addition to the regular duties,” Perlow said, adding that a superintendent position would handle day-to-day operations while the director oversees the construction work. When asked whether the 10% increase is temporary for the project, a council member was told, “No. It doesn’t,” meaning the change will remain in the director’s salary.

The budget also includes four new DPW positions: an additional roads operator, an additional driver, an extra mechanic and a superintendent. DPW Director Kevin McGee told the council the extra mechanic would be dedicated primarily to sanitation trucks to support preventive maintenance and reduce out-of-service time.

Why it matters: The proposals touch payroll, capital spending and service continuity for core town services such as road maintenance, snow removal and sanitation. The funding approach the council chooses for the trucks and storage work will affect multi-year operating and capital budgets.

The sanitation trucks: funding options and timeline

Council members spent substantial time on how to pay for three automated sanitation trucks the town ordered. McGee and town staff said the vendor order does not require immediate payment; the delivery schedule now projects the first truck arriving in April, the second in May and the third in July. The total purchase price discussed for the three trucks was about $1,200,000.

The council has previously approved a resolution authorizing the purchase order; that 02/15/2023 resolution specified purchase through the Sourcewell cooperative purchasing agreement (contract number 110223-LEG) with San Terry Equipment Company for Freightliner M2 chassis and Labrie automated bodies. McGee said the council still must decide whether to finance the trucks through a lease purchase agreement with an outside lender or to finance them internally through an escrow-style internal service fund and “pay ourselves back” over several years. Staff said interest-rate comparisons and final cash availability will guide the decision; current borrowing-rate estimates were described in the meeting as likely higher than several months ago.

Vehicle maintenance and storage

Councilors raised repeated concerns about corrosion and vehicle life. McGee said one truck has been out of service since December with undercarriage rot and that a single repair recently cost about $22,000. He described a plan to use available millings to create a paved area in the existing yard to reduce dirt and mud exposure and to seek grant funding for a larger canopy-and-paved site on the cleared parcel across the bike path.

McGee identified two funding possibilities for that larger site: a municipal compost grant application the town has submitted (the request discussed in the meeting was $750,000) and a separate capital pot of roughly $400,000 for the canopy. He said millings already on hand would allow crews to improve the present yard at low internal cost in the near term. A council member cautioned that the chosen site is near wetlands and flagged a required 50-foot setback; McGee said the planned work would maintain an appropriate buffer.

Infrastructure and capital items

McGee outlined other capital items in the DPW requests, notably an undercarriage wash system intended to reduce corrosion across the fleet and save maintenance costs long term; he said crews have included that in the capital-improvement spreadsheet. The department also proposed sanders and new plows, and a dedicated mechanic assignment to sanitation equipment.

Asset management and citizen portal

The DPW presented a proposal for an asset-management system that would track roads, sidewalks, signs, stormwater assets, vehicle and facilities maintenance, and include a citizen-portal feature for residents to report potholes and other issues. McGee said one vendor quoted an implementation and first-year price of about $30,000; other vendor estimates discussed by staff ranged higher. “It will allow us to be able to track vehicle maintenance, facilities maintenance, roads, sidewalks and signs...and give more concise accounting for the actual cost for materials, equipment and labor,” McGee said.

Council members and staff noted the portal could improve transparency and capital planning and that pavement-management and street-scan data could integrate into the system.

What was not decided

No formal council vote to adopt these DPW changes or capital purchases took place at this hearing. Staff indicated several funding decisions — including whether to self-finance the sanitation trucks, whether to commit Town funds or pursue grants for the storage canopy/compost area and whether to include the asset-management system in capital or operating budgets — will return to the council for resolution in upcoming meetings.

Future steps

Staff said they will return with financing recommendations for the sanitation trucks, further cost details for the undercarriage facility and the municipal-compost/canopy grant application status. The DPW director and manager also suggested staggered implementation to use millings now and pursue grant funding for the larger canopy project.