NASHUA
SCHOOL DISTRICT
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Gateway to Opportunity
38 Riverside Street
Nashua, NH 03060 Shawn Smith
603-966-1500, Fax: 603-594-4361 Director, Plant Operations
May 26, 2021
To: Finance Committee
Fm: Shawn M. Smith, Plant Operations Director
Subj: Recommended Capital Equipment Reserve Fund (CERF) Purchases for School Department
The FY21 planned CERF replacements include our 2004 Ford Taurus, 2006 Ford Box Van and a 2007
Chevrolet Cargo Van. Additional information on these vehicles follows:
e Ford Taurus — Used by Plant Operations Supervisor. It has accumulated 51,417 miles. That
isn’t a lot of mileage, but it is all city driving, which is hard on an engine. Well beyond
expected service life. Experiencing a fair amount of rust in undercarriage.
* Ford Box Van —- This van is used by the Food Services staff. It has accumulated 103,436 miles.
Looming repairs necessary if kept on the road, and beyond its expected service life.
* Chevrolet Cargo Van — This van is used by one of our Master Electricians. It has accumulated
84,856 miles. It is beyond its expected service life. Experiencing a fair amount of rust in
undercarriage.
The way we have utilized this program is to “retire” the vehicles being replaced, but hold onto them
as spares and for use by summer grounds personnel. Thus we will actually be trading in vehicles
replaced last fiscal year, specifically a 2003 E350 Cargo Van with 76,815 miles and a 2003 Ford Box Van
with 59,182 miles. In addition to their age and mileage, both vehicles are experiencing a significant
amount of rusting in structural members and would not qualify for a registration sticker. | therefore
doubt much will be realized in trade-in value.
To replace the three vehicles above we originally chose to purchase a Ford Explorer, Ford E250 Box
Van and Ford 350 Transit Van, and solicited bids from three local Ford Dealers (our fleet is 95% Ford),
Best Ford of Nashua, Londonderry Ford and Grappone Ford of Concord. Best Ford chose not to bid on
any of the three vehicles. The bids received are as follows:
Graponne Ford Londonderry Ford.
2021 Ford Explorer $30,110 §30,290
2022 Ford E250 Box $46,424 $46,691
2021 Ford 350 Transit $36.655 No Bid
Subsequent to this process the Board of Education’s finance & operations committee chose not to
approve the Ford Explorer and asked me to look into a vehicle of lessor capability with better gas
mileage. | reached out to the above two vendors who bid and asked them to price a 2021 Ford
Escape. The bids were as follows:
