Wallowa County adopts temporary ER&R change to push vehicle replacements to 130,000 miles

Wallowa County commissioners voted Dec. 16 to amend the county’s Equipment Rental and Revolving (ER&R) policy to extend vehicle replacement cycles from roughly 10 years/100,000 miles to 15 years/130,000 miles, a short‑term measure commissioners said is intended to save capital costs while budgets are constrained.

Interim Public Works Director Dan Mack and fleet manager Justin Myers presented the amendment and said they researched peer counties and consulted the sheriff’s fleet. Myers told commissioners most patrol deputies put on 20,000–22,000 miles a year, with some up to 30,000. He estimated that the added maintenance cost of extending a vehicle by a year would be modest — "probably another $500 a year, at the worst," he said — and proposed a safety‑first approach: extra inspections near 99,000 miles, proactive warranty work (transmission cooler) and an explicit exception allowing earlier replacement if a vehicle proves unreliable.

Sheriff Mark Kreider told the board the sheriff’s office supports the change as long as the vehicles remain safe. "If high‑mileage cars are unsafe, then we’ll have to have that discussion again," he said. The board emphasized the change is intended as a temporary budgetary step; commissioners said they expect to re‑evaluate the policy if maintenance costs escalate.

The motion to adopt the revised ER&R policy passed unanimously.

What happens next: Public Works will add an inspection at ~99,000 miles, track actual maintenance costs through the policy period and report back to the board if costs or safety concerns warrant reversing the extension.