City of Oneonta officials are reviewing a purchase agreement to buy two new transit buses at $600,000 each.
On Thursday, Jan. 15, the Finance and Human Resources Committee discussed a cooperative purchasing agreement with the state of Washington Department of Enterprise Services, which would allow the city to buy the buses and related equipment through a Washington state transit bus contract. The cooperative purchasing agreement would allow the city to make purchases under the contract and requires no cost to enter, according to information provided to the committee.
Bus purchases would be brought to the committee separately if the Common Council approves the agreement. According to information provided to the committee about the contract, this would remove the need for the city to conduct its own request for proposal process to acquire new buses.
A cooperative purchasing agreement would provide an opportunity to “meet the needs of similarly situated purchasing entities who collectively enable an innovative, cost-effective, and efficient procurement solution for awarded contractors and eligible purchasers,” according to the Washington Cooperative Purchasing Agreement contract.
After the meeting, City Administrator Greg Mattice said the city is looking to purchase two buses, and each bus would be about $600,000 each. The bus purchases could be brought to the committee at its next meeting, he said.
It was moved to a review of the full council.
Other business
The city also is seeking council approval for a timber sale at city property north of Pearl Street, and the committee pushed the contract to the full council for approval.
The timber harvest would take place on about 2.66 acres of property, which is not accessible from Pearl Street, according to the information provided to the committee. It is next to a property that Hartwick College is already logging. The timber agent working for Hartwick, Rod Jones, received pricing from Gutchess Lumber Co., Hartwick’s logger, which would cut down 54 identified trees.
Director of Public Works Chris Yacobucci said at the meeting that the property is landlocked, meaning there is no direct access to a public road, so the city has no other way of accessing the site.
“It would be very difficult to put a bid out for this parcel because it is landlocked,” Yacobucci said. “There are active skidding trails now, so the log can be skidded out through Hartwick property. It’s a good time to do it.”
The active logging operation at Hartwick offers an opportunity for the timber harvest to take place on this parcel, information provided to the committee stated.
Gutchess is offering $190.74 per tree, about $10,300 total, Yacobucci said, compared to the $109.06 the city received per tree during its most recent watershed timber sale, according to the document. Proceeds from the sale would go into the Community Landscaping Fund to fund Oneonta’s urban forest management program. Timber harvesting under the contract would take place during the next two years.
Toward the end of the committee meeting, planning and development staff reviewed some grants the city could apply for in 2026, including one it recently received.
Community Development Director Judy Pangman announced that the city received a $750,000 housing grant through the Community Development Block Grant, which is administered by the state.
“It’s for rehab, to help bring the houses up to code,” Pangman said. “It helps keep people in their homes.”
Locally, she said grants would be given to the owners of rental properties that are one to four units, where at least 51% of the units benefit low-income people. If it is a four-person home, at least three of the units would have to apply.
While the owner of the building would not need to be an occupant, the rental units themselves would need to benefit low-income people, not the owner, Pangman said.
“This summary that Judy provided shows that since 2016, she has been involved in over $123 million worth of investment in the city, and I think that’s pretty amazing,” said Virginia Lee, the city’s finance director.