Bel Air staff seek vehicle, truck upfit and IT purchases; one bid received for truck upfitting

Town staff presented several procurement items on Wednesday that the board previewed for upcoming action.

Planning operations staff requested a 2026 Ford Explorer to replace an older take‑home vehicle. Kevin said the larger cargo capacity and parts commonality with other town vehicles explain the choice over a smaller Escape; final pricing will be supplied to commissioners by email.

Public Works director Steve (speaker 10) described the purchase of two chassis (a 2026 Freightliner and a 2026 Ford F‑50) that must be upfitted with bodies, hydraulic systems, plows, salt spreaders and lights. The town solicited bids for upfitting and received a single responsive bid from Moxley’s of Street, Maryland, at $189,000 to outfit both vehicles. Steve explained the procurement approach: chassis were procured through Sourcewell, which did not include the upfitting vendor, so the upfitting work was bid separately. He said Moxley’s has performed upfitting for the town for about 30 years.

"We only received one bid, from Moxley's ... the price of the contract to upfit both vehicles was $189,000," Steve said.

Staff noted the town uses a roughly 10‑year replacement schedule for heavy equipment to avoid high maintenance costs and to preserve resale value when vehicles are surplus.

In information technology, Mr. Krantz said the town plans to buy a Dell PowerEdge server for $12,254 through a competitively bid Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC) contract and to replace five laptops ($8,003.95) and 11 desktops/monitors ($10,002.60) under the same contract. He said many laptops purchased during the COVID era are at the end of their service life; the IT team will evaluate whether some laptop positions can be converted to desktops or thin clients in future budgeting.

Commissioners asked for cost comparisons between model choices (Escape vs. Explorer) and asked staff to email final numbers. For the truck upfit, commissioners expressed interest in whether bidding the upfit separately is more cost‑effective than procuring completed trucks; staff said procurement practices and contract availability drove the approach and that Sourcewell has begun including upfitting language that may simplify future purchases.

No formal approvals were recorded during the work session; staff will return with final quotes and requested materials at future meetings.