As the adage goes, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. That, to some extent, is how the city’s vehicle replacement program has worked since the Great Recession of 2008. It’s understandable. There weren’t the funds to replace aging trucks, fire engines and cars, especially if they could be kept on the road by skillful mechanics that kept coaxing them to go another mile.

When left with no alternatives and sometimes in response to the loudest complaints – that squeaky wheel – the city would order new vehicles, paying for them with lease/purchase agreements.

Faced with pressure to update aging fire apparatus and trucks and equipment for the Department of Public Works as well as increase appropriations for road work and building maintenance, acting chief of staff William DePasquale looked for a means to evaluate requests and prioritize them. He started with an inventory of vehicles that included their age, mileage, expected lifespan and their importance to the delivery of services to the taxpayer.

As the city planner, it’s not surprising that DePasquale would look at the situation from the perspective of balancing the requests of individual departments with how best to meet needs at a cost the city can afford.

What he came up with is dubbed a “5-year plan,” although in reality it is a program that can be followed for years to come. Unquestionably, equipment demands will vary from year to year, as demonstrated by recent sanitation truck fires, that make it difficult to pin down exactly an amount in lease/purchase costs every year.

But the principles of the plan that vehicles are replaced on a schedule reflective of their age, use and importance to maintaining services and in keeping with an annual budget are good.

Maybe there will be years when some of the “squeaky wheels” won’t get the grease, but for all wheels to keep turning we urge the City Council to go along with the administration’s long range plan.