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Commissioners weigh high outfitting costs for new sheriff transport vans and cruisers
Summary
County staff told commissioners that outfitting newly ordered transport vans with prisoner boxes and security equipment is substantially more expensive than expected, prompting officials to recommend proceeding with one transport van now and staging cruiser outfitting to manage costs and timing.
Strafford County commissioners discussed the cost and timing of outfitting newly ordered sheriff’s office vehicles, including prisoner-transport vans and patrol cruisers, and agreed to proceed with a more limited initial outfitting plan to manage high equipment costs.
County staff said the vehicle purchase itself had previously been approved but that the build-out costs for transport vans — including security boxes and prisoner-transport components — were higher than anticipated. Staff described a line-item build-out figure initially cited as about $37,000 for one passenger transport van, then corrected during discussion to a lower line, and also said that a separate calculation produced a roughly $94,000 cost “off the top” for outfitting in a particular configuration. Staff emphasized that some older vans on the county fleet are not compatible with new equipment and that existing vehicles carry high mileage: one 2017 Ford Transit transport van was reported at about 234,000 miles, a 2014 Chevy cargo van at about 181,000 miles.
Given the equipment cost and vehicle-delivery timing, staff and commissioners described proceeding with outfitting one new transport van now rather than multiple vans, noting that the vehicles are four to six months out from delivery and that invoice/payment timing provides some flexibility. Staff said payment invoices are sent once a vehicle is picked up or delivered and that the county had budgeted for some vehicle payments in the current fiscal year; they said any required down payment or financing could be managed through the departments’ budgets.
Commissioners also discussed outfitting three new patrol interceptors (cruisers); staff said cruisers also require equipment and that some cruiser units were already on dealer lots with VINs assigned. Mileage figures given for patrol vehicles included 140,000 miles on a 2017 cruiser and two 2020 units with about 94,000 and 114,000 miles, respectively. No formal procurement vote was recorded during the meeting on outfitting scope; staff said they would bring final invoices and financing details to commissioners when available.
