Enterprise Fleet Management proposes lease plan to replace Caldwell's aging city and police vehicles

Enterprise Fleet Management presented a vehicle replacement and management proposal to the City of Caldwell during a council workshop, recommending an open-ended municipal lease to replace older light-duty city and police vehicles and to phase the program over several years. The firm estimated lower maintenance and fuel costs and described tools to track mileage and maintenance.

Enterprise regional manager Eric Grady said the company analyzed a portion of Caldwell's fleet and tailored a replacement plan based on city data. "What we are in business to do is help our clients pinpoint the optimal time to replace vehicles," Grady said, describing a goal of reducing the average fleet age and long-term operating costs.

The presentation said the city has "over 250 light duty vehicles" and that Enterprise analyzed 70 vehicles for a focused 10-year model; the police fleet analysis covered 107 vehicles. Enterprise proposed replacing 45 of the analyzed city vehicles in the first year of a phased partnership and replacing 35 police vehicles in that program's first year. The company's model shortens the average ownership cycle from about 14 years to about five years for vehicles in the proposal.

Enterprise provided baseline operating figures from its analysis: an analyzed-subset current cycle of about 14 years; current maintenance at about $0.29 per mile (reported as roughly $200 per vehicle per month for the vehicles analyzed); average annual mileage of about 8,300 miles; average fuel economy of about 10 mpg; and an assumed $3 per gallon fuel price used in the study. The company estimated the city's current annual cost for the analyzed fleet at roughly $526,000 and projected a reduced first-year fleet budget of about $427,000 after the phased replacements, moving toward an estimated $413,000 annual cost by year 10 in the model presented.

Grady described the financial mechanics as an "open-ended, municipal lease" that is financed to a fair-market value. He said that if a vehicle sells for more than the lease balance, the excess equity is returned to the city. "If we sell a vehicle for above what the fair market's amount owed on is, that actually comes back to the city," Grady said. In the model presented, selling older vehicles early in the partnership generated estimated equity amounts (for example, Enterprise's slide showed $8,000 of equity when five vehicles were sold in a simple-year example).

Enterprise also described maintenance and procurement supports: access to certified maintenance shops, oversight by ASE-certified technicians, and a technology platform to capture mileage and maintenance events via fuel-card records and shop inputs. Grady said the company would provide at least quarterly review meetings with the city and that its website and algorithm would reconcile mileage and maintenance inputs to drive ongoing replacement recommendations.

During a question-and-answer period, a council member asked how the city would continue to collect and track vehicle data. Grady replied that fuel-card transactions and shop maintenance records would capture mileage and that Enterprise's operating tools would be used to reconcile entries; he added the firm would provide quarterly reports and proactive recommendations.

Council members pressed other details: a participant asked how depreciation and equity compared under the proposed lease versus the city's current ownership accounting; Grady said the city could operate from an accounting standpoint "the same way that you do today" while participating in the lease structure. Another council member asked whether vehicles sent to participating shops would receive priority service; Grady said participating shops would use agreed labor rates, parts pricing, and oversight from certified technicians but did not promise explicit priority scheduling.

A council member expressed concern about the fixed cost exposure of leasing if city revenues decline in future years, asking whether the city could lose vehicles or be locked into payments. A city staff member responding to that concern said the contract would allow the city to reduce fleet size if necessary and that the city could choose not to renew leases or to sell leased vehicles if revenues forced downsizing. The presentation did not include a formal council vote or contract approval; Enterprise described this as a potential contracting path and asked whether council would be "open to this lease concept."

Enterprise identified Sourcewell as a contracting option for piggybacking on an existing cooperative contract and cited past government clients (City of Ammon, Blackfoot, and others) as references. The firm also used third-party maintenance-cost data (noted in the slides as Utilimark data from 2018) as background for maintenance estimates.

Next steps outlined in the presentation: Enterprise said it was seeking to bring the police department onto the program first in the summer and to phase the rest of the city into the contract during fiscal year 2026 if the council opted to proceed. No formal motion or approval took place at the workshop; staff and Enterprise will return with additional details and contractual language if the council requests further review.

The workshop concluded with the council thanking Enterprise for the presentation and indicating follow-up would occur before any final decision.