Commission decides to lease sheriff, public works vehicles

The Linn County Commission has opted to try a leasing program to replace "miled out" sheriff's office and public works department vehicles. (Journal file photo)

MOUND CITY – After numerous meetings with Enterprise FM Trust fleet manager Ken Olsen since January, the Linn County Commissioners and Sheriff James Akes came to a consensus to enter into contracts for 12 cars for the sheriff’s office and five vehicles for public works. 

Commissioners Alison Hamilton and Jason Hightower were in favor of trying out the leasing program, but Commission Chair Jim Johnson was not. 

County counselor Jacklyn Paletta said that all that she needed was a consensus between the commissioners and the sheriff’s office to enter into the agreement with Enterprise. 

Johnson said, ”Well, like I’ve stated before I’m not in favor of it because it just looks like it’s too far. I don’t know then if it don’t work where we’re at as far as dollars and cents.”

Hightower asked Johnson, “so are you saying you are not in favor of doing it all or you’re not in favor of any road and bridge or what?”

Johnson replied, “Right now, I’m not in favor of it.”

“At all?” asked Hightower.

Not at all, Johnson answered.     

Hamilton said she was still in favor of it.   

Hightower asked, “What are you thinking of on a vehicle standpoint on road and bridge? Are you wanting? Do you think the one to five is fine?

Hightower stated, “I don’t want to turn over 20 vehicles. To Jim’s point, I think that we need to play it a little closer to the vest. We’ll know from the sheriff’s side if  its working there. We’ll know from the road and bridge how it fits for them as well.”

“I currently have eight that are detrimental to the fleet that four have to be replaced,” Akes explained. “The four that I have that have to be replaced are going to be immediate. They’re aged out, they are ‘miled out’ and they’re becoming a repair mess. The other four that I have are getting miled out. And that’s where I’m at. Can I limp them along? Yes, I can limp them along with a repair budget.”

Undersheriff Bobby Johnson added, “I think inevitably if we don’t do something then no matter what we’re going to have to raise the amount of cars we buy each year because our replacement cycle is not adequate.”

Hightower said that he felt that the sheriff’s office had presented the plan on how their 12 vehicles would work. It shows that it is going to benefit us from a budgeting standpoint. 

Johnson asked Public Works Director Jesse Walton, “What’s your idea Jesse?”

Walton answered that public works does not put as many miles on their vehicles as the sheriff’s office.

Olsen pointed out that the average age of the road and bridge fleet right now is 2009.

Hamilton said she would like to do one each shop or referring to a report by Walton, possibly one from the north shop, two from Pleasanton and two from Mound City.

Hightower said he was OK with that.

Hamilton asked how many years the contract was for.

Olsen said the master agreement with Enterprise FM Trust is indefinite and allows the county to do business with the leasing department.

“The lease schedules from there and the lease quotes that we would sign range from 12 months to 60 months, and from that perspective you can get out at any point in time,” Olsen said. “So if we have a 60-month term for a shared vehicle and next year you guys decide this is not a good contract for you, you want out of the agreement you would pay off the remaining balance at that point in time on the enterprise website. 

“The team won’t be able to see at every given point. The reduces book values, which is simply the remaining balance, if you ever wanted to pay that remaining balance off, we give you the title at that point.”

Hightower pointed out that, “It’s going to be important that every year we are looking at this to determine whether we’re going in further or whether we’re needing to pull the plug.”

“Like what happens if two years down the road we decide we don’t like this, and all the cars that you have sitting there to replace,” Johnson asked. “Your budget’s going to go up tremendously that year?”

Both the sheriff and Hightower answered that was the same situation that the sheriff’s department was in right now.

Paletta told the commissioners, “When I reviewed the contract, it did seem to have a general one-year renewable like built within it because it was re-evaluated every year because as we’ve seen with cars in the last three years in particular. Like used car values have really changed because of interest rates and that type of thing on new cars, the incentives have changed. 

“So it really did seem to be customer beneficial as unlikely as that might sound from a leasing company. No offense. I really appreciated the way the contract was structured that allowed the contract to be reviewed yearly.”

“So, you’ve pushed for leases on tractors and equipment, right?” Hightower asked Johnson.

“A tractor lease is a one-time deal, and you can’t operate tractors for the cost,” Johnson answered. “You can’t go buy a tractor for that cost. Go buy one and see what happens. That’s where I’m at. That’s where I’m staying.”

Hightower summarized that the group had their consensus that Paletta wanted.

“Yes, we do however I think moving forward is there something that you would want to see from him that he could show like the analytics on how we are saving money, that would convince him like in the future like this is beneficial for the county?” Hamilton asked.

Olsen answered, “Absolutely. And that’s where our quarterly meeting comes in. We’ll bring that to the team every single quarter.”

Olsen pointed out that this was an equity lease not a net lease and the county would receive the equity.

Hamilton said to Johnson, “What I hear from you is that you don’t think its going to be financially beneficial for the county.”

Johnson said that is what he thought.

Hamilton then spoke to the sheriff, “The only final concern I would have is that you’ve come to us to ask for our buy in as commissioners. Let’s say it’s not going the way you want it to go then you come back to us like we’re going to cancel this contract. But we don’t. You can still do what you want to do, right?”

Hightower said, “I think it is a collaboration. He’s asking us to collaborate on this.”

Akes explained, “The biggest thing is when I am coming to you. I’m looking at do I put the money in for capital outlay? Do I lease the vehicle or do I make the vehicle payments through a finance company.

“That’s the only thing that I am looking at right now. I wanted you guys to know where I am at in the grand scheme of things to sit there and say, ‘OK, how are we not going to put this sock to the budget all at once.’ 

“And you know, I did come in to bring you on board because I know public works and stuff like that. It could be beneficial in the long run with the aging fleet of public works. But at the same time, you know, I don’t want you to feel pressured like you’ve got to go with this because we’ve explored this option as being beneficial to us with the amount of vehicles that we have. I mean this is what we’ve found that could work for us.”