03/03/75 Board of Public Works Minutes

Home Browse Search

91 REGULAR MEETING MARCH 3, 1975 to determine what their experience has been with this sweeper and found.them both to be dissatisfied with the performance of the machine as well as the service. MacDonald Machinery has only recently acquired the distributorship for Wayne Sweepers and at this time have no parts inventory whatsoever. With the factory being located in Pomona, California, I can foresee the potential problems procuring repair parts. Ries Equipment Co. has been the distributor for the Elgin Pelican for 47 years. There are approximately 150 Elgin Street Sweepers in the State of Indiana. Ries Equipment maintains a sizable parts inventory and employees qualified service personnel to work in the field. The Elgin Sweeper factory is located in.Elgin, Illinois which is.near enough to South Bend that, on more than one occasion, they have sent a factory man to solve a problem or make a necessary engineering change in the field. It.has been my experience and lam sure you will agree that the equipment we buy is only as good as the service behind it. Hopefully the Board agrees with my reasoning and will award the bid as recommended contingent upon the approval of an appropriation to purchase with Revenue Sharing money. �7 Respectfully yours, s/ Donald L. Decker Director Division of Transportation Mr. Farrand asked Mr. Decker how the MacDonald bid was not within the specifications. Mr. Decker said in the conveyor system, tire size and water pump. Mr. Farrand asked Mr. Decker if he considered these significant. Mr. Decker said he did, particularly the conveyor system. He said, in his opinion, the important thing is the experience others have had in the State of Indiana and the, information he received was that they did not have the service and were unhappy with the machine. Mr. Bultemeier of MacDonald Machine was present and said he wanted the Board to be aware that they have recently acquired the Wayne account. He said they do have the service people and they will stock parts for the machine. Upon motion made, seconded and carried, the Board approved the recommendation of Mr. Decker to award the contract to the Ries Equipment Company as being in the best interests of the City of South Bend. The bid award was made subject to the appropriation of funds. Mr. Gene Evans of the Civic Planning Association asked in what regard the bids differed. Mr. Farrand explained that the Ries base bid was for a gasoline engine, with an alternate for the diesel engine. Mr. Bultemeier then informed the Board that there are 100 of his machines operating in the City of Chicago and that there are parts available from Chicago. Mr. Farrand suggested that Mr. Decker might want to contact the City of Chicago in regard to the machines. Mr. Farrand then thanked Mr. Bultemeier for submitting the bid and urged him to submit bids on future items. REQUEST TO ADVERTISE FOR BIDS - BUREAU OF STREETS MATERIALS The Board received a request from Donald Decker, Director, Division of Transportation, that bids be advertised for materials for the Bureau of Streets for 1975. Specifications were submitted with the request. Upon motion made, seconded and carried, the Board approved the request and directed that the Clerk advertise for bids on March 7 and 14 with bids to be received on March 17 at 9:30 a.m.