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Council hears plan to buy Digger-Derrick truck, transformers and vehicles; staff defends costs
Summary
The budget includes $700,000 for a new Digger-Derrick truck, $300,000 for an electric service truck, transformer purchases, and two fully outfitted police vehicles. Staff defended the purchases as necessary for utility reliability and public safety.
City staff identified multiple high-cost equipment purchases in the FY25–26 budget: a Digger-Derrick truck budgeted at about $700,000 to set poles, an electric service truck at $300,000, transformer purchases with 12–16 month lead times, and two fully outfitted police vehicles at about $170,000 each.
Kevin, the electric-utility department head, told the committee that lead times have shortened since earlier procurement delays and that a new Digger-Derrick could reduce annual maintenance costs previously approaching $60,000. "Without that truck, we can't set poles. We can't move wire. We can't set transformer," he said, adding that renting in previous years had been costly.
