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March 10, 2006
13 VEHICLES FOR $371,000 Sheriff to get his wheelsTHREE - NOT FIVE - PICKUPS TO JOIN THE FLEET
By PHILLIP GOMEZ
Last year, no new vehicles were added to the sheriff's fleet, so the office was starved for wheels. This year it hit the jackpot - well, almost: a straight flush, king high. It was Nye County video poker stakes. The Nye County Board of Commissioners agreed Tuesday to Sheriff Tony DeMeo's request. In the fourth presentation made to the board, the commission approved an expenditure of $371,000 to purchase 13 new vehicles - three 2006 Dodge four-wheel drive, quad-cab pickup trucks, two 2006 Ford Expedition sports utility vehicles and eight 2006 Ford Crown Victoria patrol cars. The new vehicles are to replace older patrol vehicles with more than 100,000 miles on them. Currently, the sheriff's office has 31 vehicles with more than 100,000 miles. They are deemed unreliable and unsuitable for use as emergency vehicles. The new pickups were the blue chip items. The cost per vehicle is $24,000 plus another $6,906 each for modifications. To outfit the vehicles with police equipment - radar, video cameras, radios, modems and GPS tracking systems - add on another thousand or two, up to $3,500, but that wasn't included in the total price tag of $30,906 each. The Crown Vics cost $30,412 each; the 4 x 4 Expeditions, $30,015 each. The sheriff's office really wanted to get five pickups, but the commissioners talked DeMeo down to three - as a pilot project to test them. But in poker who knows who is bluffing whom? "I really have mixed feelings about the 4 x 4s," said Commissioner Patricia Cox. Lt. Frank Jarvis said the four-wheelers would allow for improved access to difficult terrain and response times to calls for service in times of inclement weather, especially in remote areas. A deputy responding to a call from a resident in Gabbs, for example, would take approximately three hours to get there from the Smoky Valley if traveling by paved road, Jarvis said. But if the deputy went over gravel roads, he or she could get there in half that time. Additionally, the pickups' heavier suspension, heavy-duty transmission and higher ground clearance would lower undercarriage repair costs, he said. "People get stuck on wet roads and we can't respond," said Lt. Jarvis. Jarvis also said patrol vehicles take a beating from being regularly parked and idled. He said idling for an hour was equivalent to driving 33 miles. Vehicles used in accident investigations are sometimes idling for up to eight hours. The cars must remain running in order to supply electricity from the battery to run the emergency lights, radios and other electronic equipment. "Would you be willing to try three instead of five, and then report back an analysis, a pilot project of the pickups?" asked Commissioner Joni Eastley. DeMeo and Jarvis indicated that one pickup would go the northern part of the county, to be utilized for search and rescue incidents. One would go to Beatty and one to Pahrump. Comptroller Marie Owens said the interest earned on the county's PETT fund would pay for the vehicles. But it would almost wipe out the fund. PETT is the Payments Equal To Taxes that the county collects from the federal Department of Energy for the Yucca Mountain Repository as host county. Cox remained concerned that the sheriff's request had not been budgeted and that allocating the funds to his office would deprive the commissioners of funding other departments. "Since the money is there," said Cox, "do we want to drain it down, not give other important equipment throughout the county and let them go without? "It wasn't in the budget," she told the sheriff. "Why wasn't it factored into your budget? ... My concern is, how are we going to be assured that ... we can run this large a fleet without using PETT funds (every year)? Is this for this year coming up, and that is it?" Jarvis replied that a few vehicles would need replacing each year. DeMeo said the county has recently bought fire and rescue equipment and now it was the sheriff's turn. "If the budget were adequate, we wouldn't have to come back and ask (each time). It's a problem that surfaces every year. It's something we should have in our budget at an adequate funding (level)," said the sheriff. Police services in the county were "24-7," said DeMeo, meaning 24 hours per day, seven days per week. The sheriff's office needed to "turnover" vehicles each year, he said, "unless the county has an appetite to fix these vehicles (after they reach 100,000 miles)." Cox made the motion, including in her proposal the appendage words "... and not to come back for additional items." It passed unanimously, 3-0, Commission Chairwoman Candice Trummell abstaining. Trummell abstained due to her involvement as a consultant for an engineering firm that does business with Esmeralda County. Esmeralda and Mineral counties are slated to get Nye County's "hand-me-down" used vehicles. |
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