Council Sweeps Away City's Street Sweeper Request

MELROSE, MA — The Department of Public Works will have to find another street sweeping solution after the City Council denied a request for a $243,000 sweeper to replace one the city said is past its usefulness.

Seven councilors voted in favor of the appropriation, one shy of the required supermajority. Councilors Mark Garipay, Shawn MacMaster, Robb Stewart and Cory Thomas opposed the purchase, some saying the cost is just too steep as long as other options exist.

The money would have come out of the Capital Stabilization Fund, which MacMaster said has some $590,000 in it. The sweeper would have chewed into more than 40 percent of the fund ahead of COVID-related financial uncertainty.

DPW Director Elena Proakis Ellis has said the street sweeper "is beyond its useful life." It was made in 2004 and bought by the city for $70,000 in 2011.

She also said the city greatly benefits from having an in-house street sweeper, even as it contract out some of its sweeping work each year. The city sweeps in the spring and summer and cleans up isolated incidents like construction. It contracts out the more involved fall sweep.

A malfunction with the city's current sweeper led to a scary incident in June that saw it roll backwards down a hill before coming to a stop against a rockwall on someone's property. No one was injured, and Proakis Ellis credited quick-thinking by the driver to limit the damage.

Related: City Eyes $243K Street Sweeper Replacement

But Stewart said the city would have been liable if things had gone differently. He said it may be wise to contract out the spring and summer sweeping to mitigate risk and rid the city of the responsibility.

Garipay agreed that the city could look at outsourcing or even buying another used one. Spending $243,000 for something that isn't used for more than a quarter of the year isn't prudent in his eyes.

"I think it makes sense to take a step back and examine all these options," Garipay said.

Proakis Ellis said new sweeper would pay for itself in a few years when you factor in how much it would be to outsource. She also stressed the importance of having a sweeper in-house, citing the isolated sweeps throughout the year.

The city had originally planned to tap free cash for the sweeper, but the coronavirus pandemic shifted priorities. City Auditor Patrick Dello Russo suggested the city dip into the Capital Stabilization Fund this time around.

The DPW will go back to the drawing board, but with so much financial uncertainty it's unclear where the funding might come from if it continues to pursue a new sweeper. Melrose probably won't be finding a great trade-in deal, either: The turn-in value of the sweeper is a scant $2,500.