The City of Mount Vernon will be looking at leasing a GPS based spraying system for $10,000 a year.
The Turf Tank spraying system was demonstrated to staff at a recent event, and would be a way to map the boundaries of the various athletic fields in the community.
Mount Vernon city administrator Chris Nosbisch noted that utilizing this system could reduce the amount of staff time that would be devoted to painting and spraying the boundaries of the numerous ball fields in the City of Mount Vernon.
“We could store up to 41 different field styles and sizes,” Nosbisch said.
Mount Vernon public works director Eldon Downs said the biggest perk to him was that the company guarantees paint supplies as part of the bid.
“This past year, we had a very hard time getting paint this year,” Downs said. “If they can guarantee that resource as part of the bid, that would be huge for us.”
Discussion by the council members focused on how long it takes for city staff to paint the fields currently.
That takes three city employees roughly three full days at the top of each season to paint the fields, and then a single employee to touch up and respray the field lines at least once a week during the season.
Another perk for the system is the possibility of utilizing less paint to paint the boundaries.
The roughly $11,500 price tag per year is a lease-to-own item. Nosbisch noted if it is successful for the City of Mount Vernon, it is something that could be shared between Mount Vernon Schools and Cornell College to utilize as well.