County staff presented multiple vehicle purchases intended to balance fleet replacement costs over several fiscal years and to repurpose older vehicles for other departments.

Angie, filling in for absent staff, told supervisors the county recommends buying two 2026 Chevrolet Equinox SUVs for the sheriff's criminal investigations division to replace a 2017 Ford Escape and a 2015 Buick Encore. She said the Equinoxes would be purchased through the state Department of Administrative Services (DAS) contract from Carl Chevy at $28,624.40 per unit for a combined cost of about $57,300. The health department would receive the replaced vehicles, which staff said better match health department needs than older 2012 Honda Insights.

Staff proposed delaying the planned replacement of a prisoner-transport van by one year. The delay would allow staff to purchase a police interceptor utility now (not to exceed $54,300) to replace a Ram pickup that county crews are using to make secure transports into the federal courthouse sally port, where taller transit vans do not fit. Staff said delaying the larger van purchase saves roughly $25,000 in the fiscal 2026 budget and keeps an appropriately sized vehicle available for secure transports until the replacement van is ordered and delivered.

Another request asked for a Chevy Traverse (replacement for a 2013 Ford Edge with ~115,000 miles) with a cost not to exceed $47,000; staff said that vehicle would be repurposed into the county pool fleet and the replaced pool vehicle would be sold.

Supervisors asked about fleet sizing, spare vehicles and whether the county risks accumulating excess vehicles; staff said repurposing and future sales are planned once replacements arrive. All purchases would use the state DAS vehicle contract catalog or other state contract vendors when available; no formal purchase orders were recorded at the July 1 meeting.

Staff emphasized operational reasons for some purchases — detectives’ gear loads, surveillance and evidence work that require different vehicle sizes and configurations — and the need to manage lifecycle costs across years.