The Town Council has approved the purchase of two new pieces of equipment for the Fountain Hills Street Department.

At its March 3, regular session the council voted to allocate $169,677 for the acquisition of a Caterpillar industrial loader and a Broce power broom.

Public Works Director Justin Weldy has made previous attempts to bring the proposal before the council.

“Previously, I have simply failed to convey the message to the council related to this purchase,” Weldy said. He said buying the items would result in reduced costs and multi-year savings to the department.

The equipment is appropriate for storm clean-up following severe monsoon storms and having it on hand would reduce time by not having to rent the appropriate equipment.

However, Weldy said there is also plenty of work that is not related to storm clean-up. The other town-wide maintenance would include drainage, wash and road maintenance as part of day-to-day operations. Also, parks staff would use the broom for clean-up on walking paths, including removal of bird droppings.

Weldy also explained that staff has retired some other equipment and sent it to auction, allowing proceeds to be returned to the vehicle replacement fund.

The funding for this equipment is from the Highway User Revenue Fund using the town’s portion of state shared revenues.