Sheriff's Office to accept bids March 3 for four vehicles after pickup bids exceeded budget

Captain Newton and Lieutenant Connell of the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office told the board they paused last fall after pickup bids returned in the $49,000–$55,000 range — well above the department's budget.

"The pickups are just the police package Ford, and Ford is the only one that returned to bid. It was almost 55,000. That's way outside of our budget," Captain Newton said. He told the board the office would broaden specifications to include SUVs to reduce unit cost by an estimated $5,000–$8,000 per vehicle and hoped to obtain multiple options from vendors.

The captain said the department would use state-bid pricing as a baseline and would distribute state-bid information to local dealerships to support competitive local proposals. The board discussed fuel efficiency differences among current units and candidate models; Newton and other presenters said state patrol colleagues had reported acceptable mileage on Durango and Ford SUV platforms.

The board voted to set March 3 at 9:30 a.m. to receive bids for four vehicles for the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office. Commissioners and staff discussed hand-delivering bid notices to local dealers as a courtesy and the board recorded an affirmative roll call on the motion.

Why it matters: The switch from police-package pickups to SUVs is meant to bring costs into budget while maintaining necessary law-enforcement capability. Fuel efficiency and lifecycle costs were raised as factors in vendor selection.

What’s next: Staff will publish the bid notice, provide specifications that include SUVs and state-bid options, and accept sealed bids at the March 3 opening. The board requested staff to share fuel-efficiency information with commissioners as part of bid evaluation.