Highway director outlines vehicle, equipment and bridge needs; committee told Hidden Springs clearing funded with ARPA

Seth (Highway Director) presented the highway and public-works portion of Alton’s CIP at the Sept. 22 meeting, asking the committee to add missing items to the plan, shift timing on several vehicle and equipment replacements, and consider a $100,000 CRF contribution for a bridge project expected in spring 2026.

Fleet and equipment schedule. Seth said two vehicles are showing emergent issues and proposed replacing a pickup included in the 2026 plan; he described a net replacement cost of roughly $70,000 that would include a plow and sander. He reported the department’s current highway equipment CRF balance is roughly $284,830 and described shifting purchases to keep the annual contribution manageable rather than produce spikes in the CIP.

Lease purchases and visibility. The committee discussed the 2025 Mack Granite roll‑off truck that the town bought this year on a five‑year lease-to-own agreement; the first lease payment is scheduled for December 2026 and the capital lease will be recorded in the transportation budget. Several other leased items (a 2016 Cat grader) are already visible on the plan.

Items missing from the published plan. Seth noted the bucket truck (used for lights, flags, hazard trees) and the loader had not been assigned years on the CIP spreadsheet and asked that both be added. He also recommended extending the backhoe replacement by a year while considering swapping it with a rubber-tire excavator; estimated costs for the different options were in the $225,000 range with trade‑in values near $75,000.

Street sweeper, sidewalk machine and rollers. Seth recommended buying a used full‑size street sweeper instead of new (used examples around $100,000). He flagged HD15, the town’s vibratory roller, as increasingly difficult to service and said surplus options and other manufacturers (for example Hamm) should be investigated.

Bridge repair quote and requested CRF deposit. The bridge reconstruction CRF currently holds roughly $325,000, Seth said, and he reported a contractor quote to repair the Roberts Cove bridge at about $3.75 million (he recalled a prior $3.25M estimate from a prior conversation). To secure funds against material-cost increases, he proposed adding $100,000 to the bridge CRF so the town would be positioned to begin work in spring 2026 if schedules permit.

Hidden Springs clearing and ARPA funds. The committee learned the board used remaining ARPA funds to clear about 14 acres at Hidden Springs as an exploratory step tied to future DPW-building planning; the clearing work was awarded to Boggs Logging at $5,000 per acre and will be paid from American Rescue Plan Act funds, not the highway CRF.

Landfill closure testing. For the landfill cap/closure account the public-works staff proposed using the CRF to cover recurring testing and maintenance. Seth said next year’s sampling/reporting quote is about $17,000 and recommended $20,000 in the CRF to ensure testing and twice‑annual mowing can be paid; the account balance was reported at about $41,000.

Solid-waste building and recycling capacity. Staff described interest in modest building improvements or a drive‑through configuration to expand recycling acceptance (cardboard and aluminum currently provide revenue; plastics are going into MSW because of storage and handling limits).

Next steps. Committee members asked Seth and staff to reconcile two missing items (bucket truck and loader) in the CIP spreadsheets, to provide repair-versus-replace cost breakdowns on aging vehicles (one dump truck failed inspection and may need close to $10,000 in repairs) and to flag lead times: ordering heavy vehicles can take a year or more. Seth agreed to update the plan and meet again with committee staff before the next round of CIP reviews.