Waterford plans replacement options for aging bus shop hoist; pit cleanup and funding from bond planned

Assistant Superintendent Hildebrandt told the board that the district's in-ground vehicle hoist at the transportation facility, originally installed in 1999, has been out of service for about six weeks and is beyond its useful life.

Hildebrandt said, “The original in ground hoist was put into operation in 1999, so it is beyond its life. It has formally it is fully out of commission now. It has not worked for 6 weeks. So we're looking at replacement options and we have different options to consider.”

Staff described four broad replacement options: replacing the in-ground hoist with the same style, buying mobile column lifts, installing surface-mounted lifts or installing a parallelogram or scissor-style lift. Hildebrandt said mechanics have been consulted and two vendors are providing consortium pricing.

Hildebrandt also said the existing pit contains about 20 inches of accumulated fluid and will require decommissioning and environmental cleanup. “There's 20 inches of fluid that is in the bottom of it from all the years of use. So we know that that needs to be cleaned up, decommissioned, and taken care of,” she said. Board members asked about environmental remediation plans and Hildebrandt said the district is having drawings produced to plan for safe decommissioning.

Funding for the replacement will be drawn from the 2020 bond; Hildebrandt said the project had been planned in the bond but the failure happened earlier than expected. She told trustees she will return with a formal recommendation, pricing and a preferred option at the next meeting for action.

No vote was taken at the meeting; trustees asked staff to continue gathering vendor pricing and environmental plans and to present a formal recommendation when ready.