Benton Harbor City Commissioners have approved some public safety and public works equipment purchases, all at no cost to the city.

At this week’s meeting, commissioners approved the purchase of a Bobcat skid steer loader and a leaf vacuum for the public works department using a Michigan Department of Treasury grant of $221,000. Commissioner Juanita Henry said this could really spruce up the neighborhoods, so she wants it deployed.

“I’ve seen us buy machines that never left downtown and never went to the neighborhoods, and I don’t want to see this Bobcat do the same thing,” Henry said. “I want to see it all over the city.”

Commissioners also authorized the purchase of a 4×4 mini-pumper for the department of public safety to be used for fire response. It will replace the department’s Ladder 55, an aging aerial ladder truck.

Mayor Pro Tem Shaquille Turner said the truck, which was originally purchased with a FEMA grant in 2006, is seldom used and inefficient to maintain.

“It goes up in the high-rise, for example, Harbor Towers,” Turner said. “It goes up in the air and they can continue to fight a fire or bring someone down safely. Right now, our ladder truck is costing us too much money, and we only used it seven times last year. It’s not beneficial to keep on having it in-house at the fire station right now when St. Joe and Benton Township have brand new ones.”

Partnerships with those two fire departments make maintenance of the aerial ladder unnecessary, and replacing the old equipment would cost an estimated $3 million to $4 million. So, the department of public safety says the equipment will be traded for the 2016 Pierce 4×4 mini-pumper with an estimated value of $264,000. That equipment can be maneuvered in dense urban areas and in areas like sand dunes to put out fires.

Also this week, commissioners approved the purchase of mobile computers for police patrol vehicles at a cost of just under $26,000. That equipment will be paid for with a grant from the state.