Agenda - Council - 03/24/1987 - Laserfiche WebLink

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1~:~ (1~ PRIVATI~C~ ~y, Me=le ~ev:Lssen, Public Works Superin~t We have tried contracting work out several times in the 15 years that I have ~ with Ramsey. My first e~l~erienoe was with snowplowing. We hired a person with a grader to assist us be(~e we didn't have enough equipment to do the job. The first year it worked great; he started the same time we did. The second year was not so great ~-~cause he found more, better paying jobs, and by the time he got here, we were nearly done with the plowing. So the next year we added to ~r fleet~ We h~t the same experience with park m(~ing; the first year he did a beautiful, job hie the second year he found more jobs that payed better and sooner so that's w]mre he went first. By the time he got here to m~, the grass %~as so tall Jt had to be raked up because the mower left a windrow. We also tried ~ntracting out asphalt overlays which didn't work out because the quality of ~rk was not t~ere. We also contracted out ditch cleaning and had a bad experience with that, as we finally had to finish the job ourselves anyway. If we h__~d enough peo)~e here to baby-sit all of these contractors, we could do the work without con~;racting. In 1984 we had some bad ar~.~.as in Rodeo ~ills that had to be dug out and resurfaced with asphalt~ ~ received an estimate from H & S Asphalt for approximately $8,000.00. I didn't have that muc~ money budgeted, so we did the job with our equipment for ]ess than $5,000.00 in material and equipment, saving the City $3,000.00 on ~ne job alone. Burns Township has tried cont:~acting out all road work, including snowplowing for a few years and are now b;~ck to doing their own work because of the same problems we had,. At one time Andover contracted all services and they are now doing their own work again. ~m Lake oontracts out services and are having bad experiences. Contracting out services is nothing new; I think most small cities amd townships have tri~] it. It doesn't work out because we don't have total control of! when the work will be done or the quality of the work. If the City Com'~cil would li~e to contract out a service I would suggest a trial for two or three year~- in the sewer and water department. This new department was added to the street crew with no additional personnel and we don't have the time to do what has to be done in that department. It requires special schooling, safety cla.~ses, inspectio~, and a lot of public relations. With the ~m%ll crew we have iu Ramsey we can' t even keep up with street and park maintena~ ~