The town will use its capital nonrecurring fund to purchase five heavy vehicles for the Parks and Recreation and Highway Departments, and will structure an internal leaseback arrangement that will save taxpayers in excess of $35,000 that would have gone to cover interest payments, according to Finance Director Robert Tait.

On Wednesday, July 1, the Legislative Council approved the plan to replace the heavily used trucks, one of which has amassed 275,000 miles and another that was acquired in 1989 — the same year Public Works Director Fred Hurley arrived on the job. Since then, that near-antique dump truck has racked up 189,000 miles on its odometer.

Mr Tait told The Bee ahead of the council meeting that he proposed using existing capital nonrecurring funds to acquire the five vehicles outright. Then, each year for the next five years, the departments will in effect, lease the vehicles back from the town with no added interest payments versus paying interest on commercial leases.

The Highway Department will use the program to replace the following vehicles:

*A 1989 Auto Car dump truck with 189,000 miles suffering from extensive, irreparable frame rot. It has also become challenging to find replacement parts for that vehicle, according to the departmental requisition. It will be replaced by a new six-wheel model.

*A 2005 Ford F550 with 120,000 miles with a new Crew Leader medium-duty truck

*Operation manager’s 2000 Chevy truck with 275,000 miles suffering from severe frame and body rot.

*A 2006 Ford F550 suffering from frame and body rot.

The total expenditure for the Highway Department vehicles is approximately $366,500 according to Mr Tait, and the annual interest-free leaseback payments will be $73,300 per year for five years.

The Parks and Recreation Department is replacing an unreliable 2004 Ford F350 dump truck with a heavy-duty 1.5 ton four-wheel drive model, along with a 2003 Chevrolet k2500 pickup, which is described as being the oldest and most rapidly deteriorating vehicle in its fleet.

The total parks expenditure for the replacement vehicles is $150,000, which will be covered by five annual leaseback payments of $35,000. Documents state that it is the department’s third year requesting the replacement of the dump truck, and the fourth year requesting to replace the pickup.

Fairfield HillsDemolitions

In other action, the council approved bonding and spending $5 million for the remediation and demolition of several structures on the Fairfield Hills campus, including the massive Canaan House, a dilapidated green house, and several former private homes located in a cluster referred to as “the white houses.”

The appropriation will also cover remediation of duplex #63, which is slated for reuse as a new headquarters for the Newtown Parent Connection.

The Capital Improvement Plan previously had two, $2.5 million appropriations approved, but Mr Tait said he could combine the two years using the existing bonding schedule with a short-term borrowing program to maximize a single year’s expenditure to achieve maximum results.

Last fall the Board of Finance agreed that increased spending to fast-track remediation and demolition at Fairfield Hills had to occur, because original hopes of leasing reusable structures, or making potential developers pay for their own demolition, had not come to pass.

Town Planning Director George Benson has estimated that remediation and demolition of Canaan House will cost $4,062,863. Remaining remediation and demolition of the “white houses,” is estimated at $324,830.

The balance of costs after a $500,000 grant for renovation of duplex #63 will be approximately $175,148, and remediation and demolition of the greenhouse will be about $32,230. There is also a master contingency fund budgeted at $404,929.

Council member George Ferguson was the only dissenting vote on this measure, according to Council Chair Mary Ann Jacob.

Other Council Actions

The council also approved a number of other appropriations and bonding resolutions July 1, including $80,000 in additional costs for a Church Hill Road sidewalk project linking Church Hill Road with Main Street at the flagpole. Mr Tait explained that the state Department of Transportation required the sidewalk to be wider than originally planned, and there was an issue between the town and a property owner over a retaining wall that increased the estimated cost of the work.

The council also approved:

*A $375,000 expenditure to build an addition on the Sandy Hook Fire & Rescue substation, to accommodate new, larger fire apparatus being acquired by the independent volunteer company.

*A $975,000 appropriation for planned replacement of local town-owned fire apparatus.

*A $1.5 million expenditure that has been in the CIP for three years at $500,000 per year, to assist with the building of a new Hook & Ladder headquarters on Church Hill Road. The new facility will replace the existing town-owned building behind Edmond Town Hall, which has been suffering with structural failures and other building and safety concerns for many years.

Mr Tait said the $1.5 million expenditure is the accumulation of the three previously earmarked $500,000 expenditures. He said the money will be distributed by the town directly to building contractors or the bank holding the mortgage for the new building — to help offset those expenses to the independent volunteer company.