Sheridan City Council Study Session: Equipment Purchases and Falcon's Nest Subdivision (August 10, 2026)
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Sheridan City Council Study Session: Equipment Purchases and Falcon's Nest Subdivision (August 10, 2026)
The Sheridan City Council held a study session on August 10, 2026, to discuss five agenda items: the purchase of a tractor, a dozer, a fire engine, the final plat for Falcon's Nest 2 subdivision, and general administrative updates. No formal votes were taken; all items were presented as discussions for future council action.
Discussion Items
Item 1: Kubota Tractor for Landfill
- Heather Kaplinski, fleet and administrative coordinator, requested approval to purchase a 2026 Kubota M7060HDC tractor from Heartland Kubota LLC for $74,800. The funds were approved in the FY27 landfill capital outlay budget up to $80,000. The tractor will maintain fire lines, plow snow, and mow the old landfill area, replacing a 26-year-old tractor that was surplused in December 2023. The streets department's motor grader has been loaned for some tasks, but this arrangement has resulted in less frequent fire line maintenance and overgrowth that contributed to a fire about two years ago. Staff recommended approval; delivery is expected in four to six weeks. Councilmembers asked whether it would be an additional asset; there will be no trade-in.
Item 2: John Deere Dozer for Landfill
- Kaplinski presented the purchase of a 2026 John Deere H50P dozer from RDO Equipment Company for a net $356,507.13, including the trade-in of the city's 2023 track loader. The purchase was approved in the FY27 budget up to $600,000. A Komatsu quote was lower but did not meet specifications, lacking a landfill package and the minimum 45,000-pound weight required for compaction. The dozer will be used for daily cover, slope covering, night cover deployment, waste compaction, and repairing slope defects. The previous dozer was surplused in December 2022, and the track loader proved unable to safely perform these tasks, including an operator rollover on uncompacted material. The extended warranty is 84 months/7,000 hours. Councilmember Wood asked about the trade-in age (3 years, 5,500 hours) and diagnostic equipment; staff stated they would verify the diagnostic equipment. Staff recommends approval; delivery in 6-8 weeks.
Item 3: Pierce Enforcer Rescue Engine
- Kaplinski explained an opportunity to procure a second fire engine earlier than expected through a build slot from Front Range Fire Apparatus. The total cost is $1,250,609 after a $34,500 prepayment discount on the $1,281,584 list price. Available funding includes $250,000 from FY25 asset reserves, $250,000 from FY27 GPEP funds, and an MRG grant previously approved by the State Loan and Investment Board (up to $710,000, 50-50 match). Option 1 would commit approximately $270,144 in unspent FY26 GPET funds, leaving a residual of $125,304.50. Option 2 would use $1,125,000 in upfront funds, but would leave $129,609 to be committed from next year's budget. The engine would replace Engine 094, which has over 5,400 hours and 53,000 miles. Delivery would be next fall; the state fire marshal must still concur. Staff recommends approval, and if concurrence is received, the item will return to council next Monday. The fire chief was praised for securing the build slot.
Item 4: Falcon's Nest 2 Minor Subdivision Final Plat
- City planner Kelly Schroeder presented a request for final plat approval of the Falcon's Nest 2 subdivision, encompassing two parcels (426 Kingfisher Avenue and 2100 Pheasant Draw). The proposal would create three lots: 5.77 acres, approximately 6 acres (lot 2), and 18+ acres (lot 3), with two existing single-family homes. Lot 2 is intended for future subdivision. The plat includes a new 60-foot access and utility easement for a future connection north, which would help secure a secondary access for Osprey Hill that was never built, consistent with the Cloud Peak Ranch Master Plan and the 2026 Transportation Master Plan. No infrastructure improvements are proposed now. Public notification included letters to 120 surrounding property owners; multiple comment letters raised concerns about traffic, water pressure, density, and open space. Staff recommends planning commission approval. The mayor expressed concerns about development without a West Corridor plan, service provision, and affordability. A councilmember said parceling the land could imply support for future development. The mayor responded that he does not want to signal support until those issues are resolved.
Item 5: General Discussion and Future Agenda Items
- City administrator Stuart McRae provided updates: the city will provide an update on the West Beltway project and verify diagnostic equipment availability. The Citizens Academy begins Wednesday night with 20 participants. McRae addressed recent calls about Flock cameras, stating the city does not own any Flock cameras; a reported camera at Grinnell Plaza is a live feed. Council comments included reminders about school zones and buses, and the first day of Bronco football practice.
Key Outcomes
- No formal motions or votes were taken during the study session.
- The tractor and dozer purchases are expected to be brought back for formal approval at a future council meeting.
- The fire engine purchase will return for council action next Monday, August 17, 2026, if state concurrence is received by then; the contract would be signed the following Tuesday.
- The Falcon's Nest 2 final plat will be considered by the planning commission, and if recommended, will come to city council next Monday, August 17, 2026.
- The council requested an update on the West Beltway and confirmation of diagnostic equipment capability.
Meeting Transcript
Can we stand for the pledge, please? And to the Republic for which it's one nation under individual justice for all good evening, everyone, and welcome to the August 10th study council study session council meeting. It's 5 30, so we'll go ahead and get started. There's five items on the agenda for tonight, so we'll just get rolling. The first is discussion of a purchase of one 2026 Kubota M7060HDC tractor from Hart Knight Kubota LLC for the amount of 74,800. And with us tonight is our fleet and administrative coordinator Heather Kaplinski. Welcome, Heather. Good evening, Mayor and Council. So this is for one tractor, and the purchase of this tractor was approved in the FY27 budget for the landfill up to $80,000. We obtained quotes via cooperative purchasing, and Heartland Kubota came in the lowest at $74,800. The utilities director presented the need for a tractor at the landfill for the uh 27 budget discussion May 5th. And this equipment is going to serve three primary functions at the landfill, maintaining fire lines around the perimeter, snow plowing during winter weather, and mowing the old landfill area so that uh city staff and contractors can safely access that area. Um, and then I'll have some other operational support like lowing uh loading smaller loads of compost. The landfill did previously have a tractor. It was surplus in December of 23, and at that time it was 26 years old. Um, it was needing high price repairs, parts were becoming obsolete, um, and a replacement was not planned at that time. So in the interim, the streets department has been loaning their motor grader for some of the tasks up at the landfill. But while this arrangement has helped meet some of the immediate needs, coordinating that has resulted in their fire lines getting maintained less frequently. Um, also with the absence of a tractor up there, it's increased the time required for snow removal and mowing has been significantly reduced. That caused overgrowth, which about two years ago caused a fire up there. The Kubota here is the model that we are getting, and as you can see, it's coming with some attachments, so a plow uh or a loader to help with the um snow plowing and a cutter and disc to help with the mowing and maintaining those fire lines. Funding, the funding for this is in the landfill capital outlay budget up to 80,000. You can see there with the uh Kubota quote, the base price came in a little over 61 with those attachments at 32, and then that cooperative purchasing discount at 18,000. So, with that, staff recommends that Marin City Council approve the purchase of one 2026 Kubota tractor from Heartland Kubota for a total of 74,800 and authorize the fleet coordinator to act on behalf of the Mayor and Council on all matters related to this procurement process. And the order to deliver timeline for this tractor is four to six weeks. And I do have the landfill supervisor here. Should you have any technical questions or questions regarding operations that I can't answer? Any questions for Heather regarding this? Yeah, quick question. Will this be an additional asset? There will be no trade-in. Correct. Okay. Anything else for Heather? No, we'll move on. Item number two, discussion of the purchase of one 2026. John Deere, H50P dozer from RDO Equipment Company for the amount of 356,507. And there we go again with 13 cents. And it's our fleet administrator, fleet and administrator coordinator Heather Klinski. Thanks again, Marin Council. So this is for the purchase of a dozer up at the landfill. That was approved in the FY27 budget for up to 600,000. Cooperative purchasing was used, and we also included a trade-in with those quotes for our 2023 trackloader. So as you can see here, we're recommending RDO. It came in at 356,507 after the trade-in. Komatsu did come in lower, however, it doesn't meet spec in the sense that the model we got the quote for doesn't include a landfill package. You're probably asking what's landfill package. So it is extra guarding that runs under the machine that protects it when it does compaction. However, in order to use the donor dozer for compaction regulation, it has to be a minimum of 45,000 pounds, and those smaller models don't reach that requirement. So the utilities director presented the need for a dozer at the landfill during that May 5th discussion study session when we were over the budget.
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