BRENTWOOD — The Brentwood Metropolis Council not too long ago accepted the acquisition of 20 automobiles for numerous departments for a complete price of about $1.1 million.
Out of the 20, 15 will change others within the metropolis’s present fleet, whereas the remainder will probably be new.
The profitable bid for the purchases was awarded to Invoice Brant Ford in Brentwood. Nevertheless, Councilmember Jovita Mendoza questioned why different regional sellers had not despatched in bids.
“I called the dealers and they said because historically, Brentwood just chooses Bill Brant Ford, so why would they spend time bidding if they didn’t have a fair shot. So how do we send out our bids?” requested Mendoza on the Feb. 25 metropolis council assembly.
She additionally questioned why the town didn’t ship out bids to different dealerships within the South Bay and whether or not the town thought-about different manufacturers moreover Ford.
“Why do we stick to the north and can we start asking bids from the south,” mentioned Mendoza. “I mean, we love Bill Brant Ford. I’ve bought cars from them, but we need to have the most competitive pricing.”
Public Works Director Casey Wichert mentioned the town will get many of the automobiles for $500 over bill.
“What we hear back from dealers is they don’t bid against Bill Brant Ford because he gives us a great deal,” mentioned Wichert.
Fleet and Services Upkeep Supervisor Scott Dempsey mentioned Brentwood’s buying coverage states that choice be given to an area vendor if their worth is inside 3% of the bottom worth for companies or taxable items, which may be greater than $10,000 or as much as $500,000.
“They automatically get it because the city gets credit back on tax,” mentioned Dempsey, noting that he despatched out the bids to a number of dealerships from numerous areas.
Dempsey mentioned Brentwood’s automobile fleet contains numerous manufacturers, corresponding to Honda and Nissan, however Ford permits the town to customise based on its wants.
“A lot of times, these vehicles are not bare bones, there will be packages included (like) fancier wheels, interiors, items that are not part of specifications (needed by the city),” mentioned Dempsey. “With Ford, we can order what we want exactly.”
Mayor Susannah Meyer requested about the necessity to change the 15 automobiles as an alternative of sustaining them, to which Dempsey mentioned his workforce evaluates the situation of each automobile that’s due for alternative.
“We physically put our hands on it, we evaluate the condition of it, we look at it, we document it, and then we go through the records, the maintenance records, and costs of what they cost us each year to operate and maintain,” mentioned Dempsey, noting that Brentwood purchases the automobiles as an alternative of financing them.
Based on a employees report, of the $1,134,200 complete price for the alternative and buy of recent automobiles, $1,096,476 was budgeted within the adopted 2024-25 working price range. Funds financial savings from the Strong Waste Enterprise fund will cowl the remaining quantity.
Many of the 15 automobiles that wanted to get replaced had been older than the alternative standards, ranging between 4 and 10 years, however they’d decrease mileage.
Councilmember Faye Maloney questioned why automobiles had such low mileage.
Dempsey defined that some automobiles had been bought because of price range allocation, however had been underutilized as a result of the automobiles didn’t match the needs or jobs. He mentioned a Ford Fiesta was bought 18 years in the past because of price range constraints, however it was hardly utilized.
“It’s a very small compact car, and it just wasn’t useful for what it was purchased for, so it just sat there in the garage. It did get used, so you can see the mileage on it. When they did go to use it, it would have a dead battery, because it didn’t get used,” mentioned Dempsey. “So, it was a constant nightmare for the shop to have to always come down here and get it running again.”
Among the many deliberate automobile replacements, the neighborhood growth division will alternate a Honda Civic Hybrid with a Ford Escape Hybrid; the finance and data programs division will change a Ford Escape Hybrid and Fiesta with two Ford Escapes; the services and wastewater divisions will change three Ford F-250 Tremendous Obligation vehicles; and the police division will change one Ford F-150 pickup and eight police interceptors.
The brand new automobile purchases embrace a Ford Escape for the neighborhood growth division’s code enforcement officer place; a Ford Ranger for parks and recreation’s administration and parks planning duties; a Ford F-150 pickup for the brand new wastewater assortment system citywide lateral alternative program; a Ford F-250 utility truck for road upkeep; and a Ford Ranger for the stable waste division to answer accidents, incidents, and buyer complaints, amongst others.
Dempsey mentioned the decommissioned automobiles will probably be auctioned off, and the proceeds will probably be channeled again to the Automobile Gear Alternative Fund.
