By ALEX MALM

When Mayor Frank Picozzi went to the city yard on Sandy Lane last Saturday he found all the sanitation trucks there.

It was a pleasant surprise for the mayor. Some days the city has had as few as three trucks available.

“That means that all routes were completed yesterday,” Picozzi’s Facebook read.

On Monday night the Council approved purchasing two more trucks to add to the fleet.

“This department has the opportunity to purchase two more of these vehicles for the same price as the original three,” DPW Director Eric Earls memo reads. “Further as the Sanitation Division has been struggling to pick up refuse in a timely manner due to the vehicles that are being repaired at any given time. The purchase of these vehicles will add two more dependable units to the fleet.”

Earls said if the purchase of the trucks is delayed then the city wouldn’t be able to get sanitation trucks until 2024 and the price per vehicle would be at least $40,000 more.

It was noted that the trucks will be purchased by using American Rescue Plan Funds. The total for the two trucks is $604,896.

“These purchases will be included in the fiscal year 2023 budget requests,” said Earls.

According to Picozzi the trucks will take 90 to 120 days to come in.

The Council previously approved purchasing three other trucks for a total of $992,604. Those trucks were paid for through the City’s Lease Purchase Program, according to Liz Tufts a spokesperson for Picozzi.

Picozzi last week said that the city is going to stick to split shifts for a while as they continue to do maintenance on the trucks that haven’t had all the work needed to be done to them because of the lack of trucks.

The city needs 14 trucks to cover seven routes daily. Including older trucks and those being repaired the city will have a total of 18 trucks with the delivery of the new ones.

Some of the work Picozzi expects to be done when trucks aren’t on the road includes cleaning, greasing and doing work to the tires.

“They just haven’t been able to because they have to get them out right away,” said Picozzi.

As more trucks become part of the fleet Picozzi said that they will begin following a checklist each day to determine any issues that may arise. Picozzi said that a lot of issues the city faces is due to a lack of parts.

“What we have been facing is broken parts,” said Picozzi.

The mayor said the city is also looking into building and operating a transfer station that would reduce runs to the landfill and save on wear and tear on the trucks.