Committee discusses budget adjustment to certify revenue for two county sedans

Bridal Manning, assistant county executive, asked the committee to approve a budget adjustment certifying revenue in the capital projects fund to purchase two county sedans for the county executive’s office.

Manning said the vehicles are intended to reduce staff reliance on personal vehicles for constituent services and government business, and that the purchase corrects an earlier oversight in not placing the vehicles in the capital budget the prior year. “The necessity for the budget adjustment lies with an unintentional oversight … for getting these into the capital budget,” Manning said. She described the cars as “basic sedans” for travel to Lansing and to constituent meetings.

Commissioners asked how often staff travel to Lansing and whether vehicles would be part of an existing motor pool. Commissioner Anderson noted frequent trips tied to legislative sessions and asked about usage during lame duck and previous sessions. Manning said travel has been “multiple days a week” at times and that the executive office’s plan is to have the cars staged at the First Street Garage and used primarily for internal office needs. "I think the way we're wanting this to work is ... for internal use for our office," she said.

Commissioner Baker McCormick asked whether vehicles will be parked or taken home; Manning said staging would be at the First Street Garage and that while overnight use could occur for multi‑day travel, the vehicles would not routinely be taken home by employees. Commissioners also questioned fleet age and ongoing replacement costs; Manning said the county inherited an aged fleet and is cycling vehicles as needed.

Staff said the vehicles are available now and purchasing them secures current pricing; specific purchase timing and whether the committee formally voted on this item were not recorded in the public portion of the transcript.