Plow purchase problems plague Niles

By Jordan Cohen

news@vindy.com

NILES

A lease-purchase agreement for three trucks with snow and ice removal equipment has been delayed, meaning the vehicles may not be available until late winter, weeks after they will be needed.

The reason for the delay: the city’s fiscal emergency.

“Because this is a lease, it has to be reviewed by the fiscal commission,” said Giovanne Merlo, city auditor. The commission, which oversees compliance with the city’s financial recovery plan, does not meet again until Oct. 24.

With its hands tied due to the pending commission review, council could not pass the legislation as an emergency and had to settle for the first of three readings. The third and final reading cannot take place before Nov. 2, council’s first meeting next month.

“I was hoping to have [the trucks] here by Dec. 1, but that’s not going to happen,” said James DePasquale, safety service director. “By the time [the equipment] is installed on the trucks, we probably won’t see them until late January at the earliest.”

That will make plowing and salting even more difficult for the city’s street department, according to DePasquale.

“We have six trucks to clear 100 miles of pavement, and right now, two of the six are not safe to drive,” DePasquale said.

The director said one of the two is capable of plowing but is unable to salt because its frame is rotted. He said the bed of the other is also rotted, rendering the vehicle unsafe.

Under terms of the agreement, the city would lease the three vehicles for five years at an estimated cost of $405,000 with an option to purchase. “After that, we can either keep them or turn them back in and negotiate another lease-purchase agreement,” DePasquale said.

Council had earlier approved legislation for bidding on the vehicles and DePasquale said the lowest bid met specifications. The city would make one annual payment each of the five years.

“I think the commission will approve it because the street department has the money,” DePasquale said.

The department, which is one of the city’s enterprise funds because it generates its own revenue, has a positive balance. The purchase will not involve Niles’ general fund, which is closely scrutinized by the city’s fiscal supervisors and the commission.

DePasquale said he is concerned about the delay given Northeast Ohio’s unpredictable winters.

“If it were up to me, we’d have finished it by now, but it’s up to the commission,” he said. “I can only pray we do not have a bad winter.”