MANTECA, CA – The City of Manteca plans to take advantage of the drop in construction prices to expand and rebuild the 1910-era horse barn which houses its 425 vehicles, trailers, and other equipment, according to the Manteca Bulletin. The crumbling barn has served as the city's main vehicle maintenance building since it was acquired in 1932. New cedar cross-beams were used several years ago to reinforce the old growth redwood used to keep the corrugated metal walls and ceiling in place.

The building also lacks room and adequate clearance for mechanics to work on the city's fleet of 20 garbage trucks that cost about $300,000 each. Some netting attached to an add-on car-port style roof helps keep some of the moisture off engines when they are open during inclement weather, according to the Manteca Bulletin.

Deputy Director of Public Works Jim Stone has been charged with coming up with a plan to purchase necessary land to centralize and expand corporation yard functions and put in place several new buildings.

Instead of using general fund money, financing for the land and new buildings is expected to be taken from $2.1 million in the government facilities account collected for the sole purpose of building needed municipal facilities. Stone hopes to see things move to construction within a two-year period.

Stone said the city is exploring the employment of new technologies to make the corporation yard expansion as efficient as possible. One idea being bounced around is to create a large car-port style structure to keep the elements off vehicles and to place solar panels on top to generate electricity.

The city has simply made do with available facilities over the years as Manteca has grown. Fleet Superintendent Bob Moulden, who has been with the city for seven years, has seen the vehicles and equipment pieces expand from 380 to 425, which has forced some creative use of space including improvising parts supply cages in areas that were designed for vehicles to be worked on.

The city also has some surplus property they could sell to raise money to cover part of the tab of a corporation yard expansion program. They include an old fire station, an unused residential lot, and the Oak Street corporation yard.