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Sewell proposes municipal track lease to replace sheriff vehicles; county shown scenario for replacing 37 of 70 vehicles in year one
Summary
Sewell Fleet Management presented a data‑driven fleet cycle plan and a municipal track lease option that would replace many sheriff patrol vehicles sooner than the county’s historic purchases, with the firm saying strategic resale and leasing can lower long‑term total cost of ownership.
Sewell Fleet Management representatives on July 25 proposed a multi‑year, life‑cycle approach for Hood County’s sheriff vehicle fleet that combines factory ordering, structured funding (a municipal track lease) and strategic resale to reduce long‑term costs.
Reid Hoffman (Sewell) described an analytical approach to finding each vehicle’s “optimal life cycle” and recommended not holding gas‑engine patrol vehicles beyond five years or 100,000 miles. He gave a detailed example for a patrol Tahoe with upfit: vehicle cost $52,500 plus an upfit cost of $33,000 (ballistic glass and equipment), producing an $85,500 total. Under Sewell’s sample municipal track lease, Hoffman showed a three‑year replacement cycle with a monthly payment in the example of about $1,900 and maintenance averaging about $83/month; Sewell proposed stopping the lease with a 10% residual and using resale proceeds to roll equity into the next cycle.
At the fleet scale Sewell modeled Hood County’s 70 sheriff vehicles and recommended a 4‑year replacement cycle. Using the county’s fleet data, Hoffman said 37 vehicles would be past optimal life cycle in year one and replacing those 37 under the lease plan would have an estimated monthly/annual cash flow around the $732,000 level, while projected maintenance and fuel costs would decline (Sewell presented maintenance falling from roughly $210,000 annually to ~$95,000 and fuel from ~$220,000 to ~$190,000 after replacements). Sewell also emphasized using its dealer network to reduce acquisition premiums and speeding up delivery by coordinating with upfit vendors.
Commissioners and staff asked detailed questions about the residual calculations, what the Sewell $30/month management fee covered, and how trade‑in equity was estimated; Sewell agreed to provide line‑item spreadsheets and said the program is flexible about using local maintenance shops. The sheriff’s staff and county auditor indicated they will review Sewell’s detailed spreadsheets before committing to a funding approach.
No contract or procurement action was taken at the workshop; Sewell representatives provided follow‑up materials and the sheriff’s office expects further meetings with staff to refine vehicle selections and funding options.
