Committee approves leasing replacement sheriff vehicles; staff to finalize fleet details

The Ashland County Finance & Economic Development Committee approved a motion authorizing the sheriff's office to proceed with a vehicle lease program to replace high‑mileage patrol vehicles and to sell older county‑owned units as appropriate.

Sheriff's staff presented an Enterprise Fleet Management spreadsheet showing several vehicles with more than 100,000 miles and two spares with 145,000 and 180,000 miles. The sheriff said deputies put roughly 25,000–30,000 miles per vehicle annually for patrol cars and that high mileage made it harder to obtain resale value. The current capital outlay request called for four new patrol vehicles (paid from the debt levy) and one additional vehicle funded by a grant/tag program; in practice staff said they were asking to lease four vehicles and to use the grant/tag funds for a fifth vehicle.

Committee members requested the detailed fleet list and valuation spreadsheets for their next finance meeting; the administrator said staff would scan and distribute the Enterprise pages and CIP material so members could review specific mileages, lease costs and resale assumptions. The motion passed; the committee and sheriff's office agreed to finalize which existing vehicles to sell and to proceed with the lease program so the fleet can be refreshed according to the administrator's timeline and vendor delivery windows.

The sheriff noted that Enterprise charges a nominal $500 per vehicle auction fee and that sale proceeds are credited in the program, which reduces lease costs. Committee members said they wanted the documentation on the exact lease payments and the post‑lease fleet configuration before the next budget decision.