Five-ton trucks to be refurbished at MMA; school bus program looks promising
By Natalie Bazinet
Staff Writer
LIMESTONE — Maine Military Authority was notified on May 6 that the Limestone facility will be receiving 50 Five Ton Trucks from the National Guard Bureau for refurbishment. According to MMA Executive Director Tim Corbett, this new project for the National Guard alleviates the risk of 50 layoffs between June and November of this year, as each truck requires over 700 hours to refurbish.
Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet
Above, Could Maine Military Authority’s famed Humvees have found themselves sharing space with a very different type of important transportation — the company has recently found a way to refurbish school buses, extending the life of the vehicles by an estimated ten years. At left, this Messalonskee School District bus looked quite similar to the vechicle above when it first came to the Maine Military Authority. The shiny refurbished vehicle was sent down to the district earlier this month, and MMA officials have heard nothing but good things about the bus and the company’s SLEP program.
According to MMA officials, Senator Susan Collins has been an instrumental force behind the new project and is a tireless advocate for the company.
“I am pleased that the Army and the National Guard Bureau have once again recognized the quality and craftsmanship of the workforce at MMA,” said Sen. Collins on Friday. “This work will prevent the layoffs of fifty dedicated employees whose jobs were on the line.”
While MMA officials and employees were excited to hear the news on Friday, the Five Ton Trucks and iconic Humvees may find themselves next to an interesting new member of MMA’s refurbishment repertoire — school buses.
Officially called the Service Life Extension Program, MMA has spend $100,000 on development establishing refurbishment parameters based off of the U.S. Army’s vehicle life cycle management model. The result could mean big things for taxpayers and big things for MMA, because the company’s mechanics have found a way to extend the estimated 10-year life of the buses that cost anywhere between $82 – $92,000. It’s estimated that an MMA refurbishment through their SLEP program will extend the life of a bus by another ten years and cost about $30,000.
Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen visited Maine Military Authority back in early April, touring the facilities and discussing the SLEP program.
“I was very impressed by the program. They take old rusty buses and when they’re done with them they look like new,” Bowen said. “This is definitely a lower-cost option for district that want to take advantage of it. We’re going to look at the state bus program and see if there are ways to help districts access the program,” he added.
The education commissioner isn’t alone in his eagerness to utilize MMA’s program — Corbett said that MMA has been in contact with dozens of school districts interested in having their put through the SLEP process.
MMA has refurbished a couple of buses for Oakland-based Regional School Unit 18 that were reintroduced to the districts fleet in April, and the reviews on the vehicles are shining.
The issue in connecting MMA’s impressive new program with the needs of the state’s school districts is rooted in funding, even though a refurbished vehicle provides substantial cost-savings.
When school districts submit applications for new buses each year, the approved purchases are eligible to receive a reimbursement for a percentage of the cost; refurbished vehicles don’t qualify for a similar reimbursement rate as of yet.
As the announcement that MMA will be receiving 50 five-ton trucks has helped stave layoffs at the company, the incorporation of refurbished buses into the state’s reimbursement program for school buses could mean additional financial security for MMA. But even if the SLEP program is embraced wholeheartedly by the Department of Education’s budget and reimbursement program, it doesn’t necessarily mean that MMA would bolster their workforce back up to levels the company saw in January of this year, when their workforce of 350 was cut by 152.
“The most important thing we have to do is make sure we have a long-term production requirement,” Corbett said. “As soon as I can confirm that we have a long-term production requirement, I will aggressively look to bring people back to work as soon as possible.”
