Sheriff asks for upgrade in fleet
Sheriff Kenny Dickerson said he needs to replace worn out patrol cars and needs a couple of trucks.
Deputy Larry Rankin, Chief of Operations over personnel, presented the sheriff's request to the board of supervisors at the April 7 meeting.
He said the front end of a patrol car traveling on Eddie Lee Smith Drive dropped out a few weeks ago. He presented a list of vehicles ranging from 150,000 to 350,000 miles on the odometers.
Rankin said it is a risk of patrolling officers lives driving in the worn out vehicles.
“Each deputy expects a safe means of transportation to make a call,” Rankin said.
Some of the older models have had their transmissions lock up while on a call, he said.
“I know the sheriff doesn't ask for what he wants, he asks for what he needs,” Rankin said. “Safety is always paramount. We have got a few vehicles that need to be retired.”
Lt. Col. David Cook said over time many vehicles have traveled around the clock.
“Officer safety is paramount,” he said. “We are starting to having major breakdowns. It costs more to repair than it would to get it fixed to sell.”
Supervisors Ronnie O'Neil Bennett and Johnny Walker asked simultaneously how many vehicles need to be replaced.
Cook said the department has 24 vehicles that are 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 models.
“The cars look good but are just worn out,” Bennett said. “Can you use parts or old equipment on newer vehicles.”
“The cars are not worth fixing,” Cook said.
“We had one that got caught up in floodwater,” Rankin said. “We are going toward SUVs, Durangos and pickups.”
“There is a liability for officers and to anyone passing by,” said board attorney Amanda Whaley Smith.
“Especially if we are transporting someone or traveling 100 miles to pick someone up, or going to a hospital,” Cook said.
The sheriff wants to rotate and replace the old ones. Cook said officers rack up 40,000 to 50,000 miles a year on some of the vehicles.
Hard miles on a vehicle and warranties expire at 36,000 miles the first year.
“We're being good stewards. We have more deputies and we had to put them in 200,000 mile cars. The fleet is worn out,” said Cook.
“How many are you asking for today?” asked District 1 supervisor Charles Terry.
Rankin said only three of the last six purchased have been delivered.
“We bought 6, and five are already gone,” he said.
“Another four more would give us 10 for patrol,” Cook said. “Three were purchased new and three were lease-purchased.”
Susie Hill, with the Chancery Clerk's office, said the county could lease-purchase all of them.
Cook said the department will not have to completely outfit the cars but can take equipment like blue lights off the old cars to out fit a new car and can save $10,000 per vehicle by transferring that equipment to the newer cars.
County administrator Tim Powell said he would like to get information from the Missouri State Police, who rotate their vehicles and sell them before they get too many miles on them to get more money for them.
“In a year's time we put over 100,000 miles on a car,” Cook said.
“If we are buying used, we need to rotate,” Terry said.
Lt. Col. Kelly McMillen said the sheriff would like to have four patrol cars and two pickups for investigations.
“If we are going to purchase, now would be the time,” said District 4 supervisor George Zinn III. “We don't know what it (the market) will be like in a month.”
“The liability if something happens will be out the roof,” Powell said. “At this point, we're not high on the hog (financially).”
He cited expensive contracts the county has ongoing like spending $750,000 this year to have three quarters of the county reappraised at the tax assessor's office.
“I would say let's lease-purchase what we need and if we see we got the money, pay it off. Lease purchase just means you are buying it on the credit,” Powell said.
Terry said the county may need to put a freeze on hiring “until we get more stable on our financing.”
“A hiring is a bill that comes back every month,” Powell said.
Cook said if the vehicles are lease-purchased, the department can use equipment it has to outfit the vehicles.
He asked for four Durangos and one Ford pickup and one Toyota pickup.
“We will set down and decide which to rotate immediately,” Cook said.
“In the economy we’ve been in the last few years, sometimes it becomes an issue finding a vehicle,” Powell said.
The discussion completed, the board approved a motion to purchase four vehicles of officers and two pickups for investigations.