Municipal Services Committee - Regular Meeting

Okay, after some technical issues, I'd like to call to order the CEA Review Committee meeting for Monday, June 8th, 2026. Please rise and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

All right, roll call of membership. We have three members here, Alderperson Van Zeelen, myself, Alderperson Fenton, Director Youngworth, and we have Director Messerschmidt attending virtually. Through a very complicated procedure, the committee elected me chair. And so our first item of business is the approval of the minutes from our previous meeting, 26-0763, the minutes from March 10th, 2025. Move to approve. Second. All right. Any updates or corrections to the meeting minutes? Hearing none, we'll go ahead and vote. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye.

I'm going to take an aye from you, Director Messerschmitt.

OK. All right. We have no public hearings or appearances, so we'll move to our action items, the first of which is 26-0764, 2026 Seasonal Vehicle Requests. And we have the list of those. Who is going to speak to these? Director Youngward? Should I put a motion on the table? Oh, yes. Move to approve? All right. And I'll second for discussion. OK. So we have a motion and a second. And is Deputy Director Loper going to speak to these? Or we're going to round Robin? Rock, paper, scissors over there.

I think about Bruce. I do this once a year.

I could, if you, Chair, I could ask a question if that might be helpful.

Okay, that would be helpful. I'll recognize Alder Van Zeeland.

Thank you, Chair. If we could just maybe talk about the seasonal vehicle request, if there's anything out of the ordinary, if this is the typical process that we follow, and if there are any things that are exceptional in this list, I'd appreciate hearing about that.

Okay, Director Tu?

This is the same avenue we go down every year. I reach out to end users to see if they need something for the season. If CEA has something, we fill them spots. At the end of the season, they turn the vehicles back in. So nothing out of the ordinary from years past.

Any other questions, comments from up here? Anyone else present?

Alderman Zeland. I'll just note for those watching at home that this is more of an assignment than it is a request for a vehicle. We have these vehicles. They're just being assigned to the division. Correct. So good point.

Thank you. These are in inventory, and each department is essentially borrowing them for their busy season. All right. If there are no other questions or comments, we can go ahead and vote. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Okay, that passes 4-0. Our next item is 26-0765, the 2027 Equipment Replacement Plan. Can I get a motion?

I'll move to approve.

Second. Okay, so we have a motion and a second. And we have a whole bunch of different things here. Who from staff wants to start on this one?

Yeah, so this is the equipment that we plan to replace for 2027. You'll see there's a list of equipment that we're holding for an additional year. We meet with the end users, review what shape the vehicle's in, if it's good enough to run, we run it for another year, and we have the same conversation for next year, or actually for 2028. There's a few that are listed for APD, which we'll do hybrids with for 2027. And then it shows a couple of POs that are cut for fire trucks that won't get delivered till 27, 28. I think there's one for 29 as well. Those are ordered POs are cut already.

Okay, thank you. Any other comments? Any questions? Anything from Director Messerschmitt on this one? Okay, Alder Van Zeelen.

Thank you, Chair. So I'll just ask, is this still following the same process that we follow where we start to determine that these are at end of life because of maintenance costs, et cetera?

Yes.

Okay, great. Thank you.

Yep.

Okay.

Any other questions or comments? All right, seeing none, we'll go ahead and vote. All those in favor? Aye. All right. Okay, that passes 4-0. Our final action item is 26-0766, Request to Upgrade Community Service Ford Transit Van for Appleton Police Department. Can I get a motion?

Move to approve? Second.

All right, we have a motion and a second. Any comments from police on this? Assistant Chief Lewis, do you have any comments on this request or?

Simply a safety upgrade.

All-wheel drive will allow us to- I'll anchor you on so I can get you recorded. All right, thank you.

Yeah, simply a safety upgrade. The all-wheel drive will allow them to function a lot better when the weather gets bad. Real-world drive was initially why we went with the van so we could get into that system. We proved the concept. It's a perfect vehicle for what their job requirements are, but the all-wheel drive will just, improve their ability to respond.

All right. Any comments from here?

Alderman Zeeland? I'll just comment that I think it's really important, given the work that CSOs do often for safety purposes. When there's an accident, they're the van that we see parked out there so that traffic can avoid it. So I think it's really important that they are given the technology they need to drive safely.

Agreed. Any other comments or questions?

All right, seeing none, we'll go ahead and vote.

All in favor? Aye. All right, that passes 4-0. We have a couple of information items, 26-0767, the 2025 equipment purchase log. And just a question, I think I heard some pre-meeting comments on this. Are we still looking at this one because we've got something outstanding on our 2025 list?

Yes, there is two pieces of equipment on the 2025 list we're still waiting for delivery on. I should see the aerial truck for traffic by the end of this week and the patrol truck for street. They're talking... early fourth quarter of this year for a delivery. So we should have it for snow and ice.

I remember that in the past we've had some pretty atrocious lead times on this. Is this a pattern? Is it getting better in general?

These are outliers? Probably the delay is on the body part of the trucks nowadays. The chassis I can get In six to eight months, it's the body part that has got the huge delay, partly because nobody builds plow trucks anymore, besides like two manufacturers. And when you start dumping everything onto two people, it just backlogs everything. So that's the snow and ice stuff. And the aerial trucks, same thing. Utility sales, they have a place down south and here in town. They're backed up. So the chassis used to be an issue, but no longer are. Okay, thank you.

So maybe better to some extent, but we've still got some lead time issues. Yep.

Okay, any other comments? No.

All right, anything to note on the next one, the 2026 purchase log?

Probably not, besides the two patrol trucks. Second quarter of 28 is when those will get built. So we have them budgeted, but I cut the PO so the chassis don't get delivered too early. Okay. So I'll get them late this year for a build early in 28.

Okay. Well, thank you for being proactive on that. All right. Any other business? All right. I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. Move to adjourn. Second. All in favor? Aye. All right. We are adjourned. Thank you all. Thank everybody for the patience and the IT work.