County motor pool outlines fleet, maintenance and potential leasing or trade-back options to cut costs

Motor Pool staff briefed the Board of Commissioners on the county’s vehicle and equipment inventory, maintenance and replacement practices, and potential cost-saving options such as guaranteed trade-back agreements and leasing-style procurement for high-cost equipment.

Matt (Motor Pool), Regine and Tracy described an inventory of about 160 motor-pool vehicles plus additional department-owned vehicles and heavy equipment (graders, dump trucks, water trucks, trailers and specialized units for airport, sheriff and vegetation crews). Maintenance is performed by two full-time motor-pool mechanics, while Road & Bridge operates separate mechanics for heavy equipment.

Staff explained the county’s asset-management practice: work orders and inventory are managed in an asset-management system that scores vehicles for replacement based on age, mileage and maintenance history. Typical patrol replacement targets discussed were roughly five years or 100,000 miles; heavy equipment and road trucks are retained longer based on hours and utility.

Motor Pool managers flagged upfitting and decommissioning as time- and labor-intensive tasks that raise costs; they noted opportunities to reduce unit lifecycle costs by ordering equipment in bulk, storing upfit materials and consolidating an upfit facility. They also discussed guaranteed trade-in or buyback arrangements and lease-to-own models used by other counties and vendors for graders, loaders and other high-cost equipment. "We used to do a bobcat lease program and it worked well," a Motor Pool representative said, describing a prior service agreement that simplified warranties and reduced maintenance burdens.

Staff proposed near-term actions: (1) collect vendor proposals for guaranteed buybacks/lease-to-own for heavy equipment, (2) assess whether consolidating upfitting in a county facility is feasible (space and staff), and (3) continue targeted resale of decommissioned patrol units through online public-auction services. Commissioners asked staff to return with a cost-comparison between buyback/lease options and traditional capital replacement and to explore options that would preserve emergency-service readiness for sheriff and public safety fleets.

Why this matters: motor-pool procurement and lifecycle decisions affect multiple county budgets (capital replacement, maintenance, fuel) and service continuity for public-safety, roads and social-services operations. Near-term procurement decisions and contracting approaches can shift costs between capital and operating budgets and influence the county’s ability to right-size the fleet.

Ending: Motor Pool will prepare a vendor analysis and a replacement/lease trade-off study and return to the board with recommendations for FY2026 fleet planning.