Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Utilities Tree Trimming topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
City weighs bringing tree-trimming in-house; startup cost estimated at $750,000–$1 million
Summary
Manager substitute proposed hiring a permanent city tree crew to reduce outage minutes and contractor turnover, estimating initial capital of $750,000–$1,000,000 and two to three employees; staff said increased annual investment may be necessary to catch up on vegetation management.
At the July 1 meeting, manager substitute Mr. Bisenbach presented a proposal to bring tree-trimming work in-house, arguing city crews could be more efficient and reduce outage minutes tied to vegetation.
Mr. Bisenbach told the board the initial capital investment would likely be between $750,000 and $1 million and that two to three full-time employees would be needed. He said the work would be year-round and staff could be cross-trained for other duties when not performing tree work. "One out of every five outage calls is tree related," he said, citing the utility's outage analysis and material supplied by planning and electrical staff. Staff estimated that, to get ahead on tree management and reduce outage minutes, the city would need to increase annual spending to roughly $750,000–$1,000,000; staff also described a roughly two- to three-year period to break even on the investment under current assumptions.
Staff listed equipment needs including another bucket truck, a chipper and a pickup truck and said more formal, itemized cost estimates would be provided once the board asked for firmer numbers. Board members asked about salary ranges and referenced examples from neighboring jurisdictions; staff said they had talked to Loganport’s superintendent for comparative data. No decision was required at the meeting; staff will return with more detailed cost estimates.
