Ouray County, Enterprise discuss vehicle leasing and upfitter delays as sheriff says crews remain short

Enterprise account staff briefed the Board of County Commissioners and county responders on Oct. 8 about the vehicle leasing program they have run for Ouray County since 2021, saying leasing can reduce net cash outlay and return resale equity — but county officials and the sheriff warned that upfitter delays have left deputies driving aged vehicles and paying rising maintenance costs.

Enterprise client manager Tim Miskiewicz presented fleet metrics showing the county’s average vehicle age and mileage have fallen since the partnership began, and described leasing structures that either spread cost over a term or pay down to a residual to preserve county cash. "One thing that helps mitigate that as much as possible is equity," Miskiewicz said; he added that private resale and timing can return funds to the county when enterprise sells end‑of‑term vehicles.

Sheriff Justin (surname not provided) and Undersheriff Stroup told Enterprise staff and commissioners that the operational problem is not the leasing model but a multi‑month backlog on police upfitting: "the backlog on just on average across the country is about 8 to 10 months on a ERV upfitting," Enterprise’s fleet strategy manager Bobby George said. Deputies described repeatedly delayed orders and the department’s need to put older vehicles back in service, with corresponding maintenance costs. "We're waiting on the upfitting. We've the name of the game since we started this in April 2021 has been waiting, waiting, waiting, orders canceled, orders replaced," said a commissioner summarizing the department’s frustration.

Enterprise staff acknowledged the problem and proposed practical steps: (1) check which of the county’s four patrol chassis are complete and could be delivered without waiting for the current upfitter; (2) engage a local Montrose upfitter (John Kreier/Watts was mentioned) to move vehicles more quickly; and (3) allow the county to take delivery of chassis and send them directly to a local upfitter if that is faster than remaining in a national queue. "If you have a local option... 1, we wanna keep the money in the local constituents. Right? We wanna keep it in your community. So that would be fantastic," George said.

The meeting covered equipment and cost details in the transcript: Enterprise staff said earlier upfit averages for the county rose from roughly $22,000 to about $30,000 on some emergency vehicles, and that certain maintenance and parts inflation raised fixed‑rate maintenance fees in recent years. County fleet manager Vicky and commissioners reviewed per‑vehicle maintenance allocations and noted monthly maintenance fees vary by vehicle type (examples cited in the meeting included approximately $42 per month for older Subarus and about $80 per month for newer Tacomas under the fixed‑rate program, per staff remarks).

Commissioners asked Enterprise to prioritize pulling any available patrol units out of national queues and to coordinate a three‑way call including the sheriff and a local upfitter; Enterprise agreed to do so and to re‑examine options for local upfit vendors and EV/pHEV alternatives for non‑emergency white‑fleet vehicles.

Ending: Enterprise committed to follow up with Watts/John Kreier and with county staff to identify which ordered chassis could be redirected to a local upfitter for faster upfitting and delivery. County leaders said the immediate priority is removing high‑maintenance aged vehicles from service as soon as possible.