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Public works director flags fleet age, road repairs and recycling costs in 2025 budget hearing
Summary
Public Works Director Lester Myers told the committee he expects retirements, has several aging trucks in the fleet and reported higher crack-sealing and repair costs in 2024; he recommended adding a recycling truck to the capital list while acknowledging multi-year lead times for new vehicles.
Lester Myers, public works director, told the budget committee the department faces imminent retirements and a fleet with several older units in need of major repairs or replacement. He said the division is staffed with roughly six full-time field employees and additional part-time coverage across public-works and solid-waste operations.
Why it matters: Myers said two employees (including a truck driver and, later, the director himself) plan to retire in 2025, creating overlap and training needs that the 2025 salary and wage proposal aims to cover. He reported nine operational vehicles, including dump trucks and garbage/recycling trucks, with several model years around 2011 and a 2009 recycling truck the department described as a frequent repair liability. "The recycling truck is a 2009," Myers said; replacement 32-yard vehicles could cost in the mid-hundreds of thousands depending on specs and availability.
Myers described a notable spike in 2024 road-repair spending for crack sealing, pothole repairs and traffic-paint operations; one multi-thousand-dollar crack-filling purchase was highlighted and the committee discussed charging some work to bond-funded capital projects (Lambert Hill) rather than operating lines. The committee asked finance staff to move eligible 2024 operating charges to capital where appropriate.
On solid-waste and recycling, Myers explained market-driven recycling costs have shifted and per-ton charges can exceed trash disposal in some counties; the department spends for recycling processing and has tried different vendors, which increased contractual expense lines in 2024. He suggested adding a recycling truck to the capital review list but cautioned lead times for new trucks can be years, so near-term heavy repairs will likely continue.
Committee members asked for repair estimates and vendor quotes to inform a capital decision. No formal actions were taken; finance will bring invoices and the committee will revisit fleet capital planning in subsequent meetings.
