A new garbage truck!
The Smithville Mayor and Board of Aldermen will have a special called meeting Monday night, April 14 at 5:30 p.m. at city hall to consider adoption of a budget amendment to purchase a new rear load sanitation truck to replace an out of service 1997 Freightliner model. The meeting will be followed by a budget workshop.
The reason for making the purchase now rather than including it in the new 2025-26 budget is because the city could possibly get the new garbage truck quicker and cheaper at $215,894.
During a budget workshop Monday night, the mayor and aldermen discussed the purchase along with other budget requests from Mayor Josh Miller, Police Chief Mark Collins, City Administrator Hunter Hendrixson, and Public Works Director Kevin Robinson.
Mayor Miller said he would like to include in the new budget about $20,000 for the purchase and installation of solar powered streetlamps similar to those recently put in at the front of the city hall building. For now, the new streetlamps would be mainly for West Main, Walnut, and Market Streets but more could be added around the public square later. Mayor Miller said the lamps would have a more appealing look and make downtown more attractive.
Police Chief Collins asked for the purchase of 13 new tasers, holsters, and accessories to replace the 15-year-old x26 tasers the department currently is using. According to Chief Collins, the old tasers have become outdated making it more difficult to obtain replacement batteries, cartridges, and new software. The department bought two new tasers last year on a grant and those could be included with the 13 new ones under a five-year plan offered by a company to replace or repair them at no extra cost to the city along with an unlimited supply of batteries and cartridges. The city could make this purchase outright for $58,591 or make interest free payments of $11,718 per year over the five-year period.
Chief Collins also requested the purchase of two police vehicles to replace the one he currently drives and another for the department. The one for the chief would be a 2025 Chevy Tahoe 4-wheel drive priced under a state bid contract at $52,143 plus another $8,553 to equip it with lights, sirens, and signal box, etc. This vehicle would be unmarked. The other vehicle for the fleet would be a 2025 Dodge Durango for $45,060 with the police package plus an additional $10,924 to equip it with light bar, cages, striping, etc.
Last year the city budgeted $100,000 for street paving. Although a final number has not yet been established, the budget for paving could be more this year. City officials say because of higher costs the city can’t do much street paving or repairs for $100,000.
The mayor and aldermen may budget another 4% increase in water and sewer rates in 2025-26 to keep the city in the black and off the state’s radar for another year. Under state law, if a utility operates at a loss for more than two years and doesn’t address it, the state has the authority to force rate increases to make it solvent. The city is currently not operating at a loss in the water and sewer fund.
The public works department is requesting $5,000 to purchase a new mower trailer, a sanitation truck hot water steam cleaner for $5,000, and $5,300 to purchase a thumb kit for a backhoe bucket which could be funded equally between the general fund and water and sewer budget. Another $12,000 could be budgeted to install an automated gate system at the city water plant which could be used to slide open the gate using a key fob providing more security and easier and safer access especially for vehicles including 18-wheel rigs bringing in supplies.
The city is also considering naming a current public works employee to a new position to be the lead operator over maintenance and equipment and increasing his pay perhaps by only a dollar per hour. Further, the city may make another public works employee full time, rather than keep him at his current 29-hour per week part time status. This employee would be used more for maintenance in the park and especially during the fall to keep falling leaves off streets around the public square.
Last month Smithville Fire Chief Charlie Parker said the city should be making a commitment now to purchase a new fire engine to replace the oldest truck in the fleet, a 2001 model (Engine 2).
Chief Parker is asking that the city purchase a Pierce Custom Enforcer PUC Pumper currently priced at $1,248,449 with a prepayment discount of $130, 143 making the city’s actual cost $1,118,305. Delivery of the new fire truck would be within 37-38 months of order date. The cost would be only for the truck itself, and not the hoses and other apparatus to equip it.
Should the city later vote to purchase a new fire truck, the mayor and aldermen would have to decide whether the city should write a check for the full amount to save interest payments or finance it over a three-, five-, or seven-year period with interest.
No action has yet been taken by the mayor and aldermen on any budget request for the 2025-26 fiscal year.