Consideration and Approval of Purchase:   Two (2) Police Interceptor Utility Vehicles

We are seeking to purchase these two (2) vehicles to replace two (2) Crown Victoria Police vehicles, which sustained significant damage at no fault to the city or their operators; both of the Crown Victoria vehicles considering their age, mileage, and significance of damage, the vehicles are considered to be total losses.

The purchase of these two vehicles was approved by the Fleet Committee on 11/10/2015.  Once approved by the Fleet Committee, it was reviewed by the Budget Committee in December 2015 and approved the purchase utilizing a Contingency Fund account.

The budget appropriation for FY2016 for the purchase of these vehicles will be covered by the General Fund Contingency (001-00-000-0000-0-4277); at $28,994.44 each (after taxes and fees), for a total of $57,988.88.  In addition, the City has received to date $11,385 in insurance recoveries to off set the cost of these vehicle purchases.

1) Invest in our employees and implement retention and attraction strategies:

It is disheartening and can create a morale issue, when officers arrive to work, but no vehicles are available to them in order to conduct patrol field duties.

11) Ensure we are prepared for extreme weather events:

Since the Ford Police Interceptor Utility's introduction in 2015, the Utility platform of the patrol vehicle has proven its effectiveness in all of Flagstaff’s weather patterns.  The increased frame and engine clearance allows for safer travel through elevated waters and, in the event of a fire, driving on non-maintained roads.

In November 2014, the Council approved the purchase contract with Peoria Ford for a total of four (4) Ford Interceptors.  The Invitation For Bids document had a "Subsequent Purchase" clause that allowed for the purchase of any additional Ford Interceptors for a period of twenty-four (24) months from the lowest bidder, who was Peoria Ford.

Forego purchase of the vehicles from the account identified by the Budget Committee and purchase the vehicles from the account originally identified and approved by the Fleet Committee, which was the Fleet Catastrophic Fund account.

The Police Department is respectfully requesting the purchase of these vehicles in response to the unforeseen and unfortunate damage of two (2) Crown Victoria patrol units.  These separate events both resulted in the patrol vehicles being rendered completely inoperable; neither the City nor the respective vehicle operators were found to be at fault in either event.

During a Fleet Committee Meeting on 11/10/2015, it was discussed that the loss of a patrol vehicle is detrimental to the overall functionality of the patrol fleet, as it takes three (3) months to receive a new vehicle and approximately four (4) weeks thereafter to have the vehicle built for patrol use.  Given that approval to purchase patrol vehicles is only sought once per year during the budget cycle, it makes timely replacement of these vehicles extremely difficult, resulting in a significant waiting period to get a new vehicle requested, ordered, built and back on the road.  It was discussed and determined that it may be in the City’s best interest to utilize an existing funding source to more efficiently bring a patrol vehicle into the fleet as soon as possible.  The Fleet Committee recognized their Catastrophic Fund may be a feasible solution.  The Fleet Committee then voted on and approved the purchase of two (2) more 2016 Interceptor vehicles to replace the two (2) totaled Crown Victoria Interceptor units. 

Given the Fleet Committee support, we took the next step in the procurement process and presented the information and numbers to the Budget Committee.  After review, the Budget Committee agreed to the purchase of the vehicles, but identified a more appropriate Contingency Fund account, from which to purchase the vehicles.  Of note is we received some monies from the at-fault party’s insurance agencies in one of these incidents.  Subsequently, the police department received approval from the Budget Committee for the adjusted cost to purchase these vehicles (cost of the new vehicle, minus the insurance money received in settlement for the totaled patrol unit).

 

The purchases being recommended have been reviewed and approved by both the Fleet Committee and Budget Committee.  Approval of these purchases would help to ensure a functional patrol fleet and continue to move the fleet in the direction of best practices in vehicle replacement and leveraging resources to help accommodate our improving patrol officer retention.

Sustaining a reliable police fleet helps minimize vehicle downtime, ultimately maximizing the number of police vehicles on the road, which may lead to faster response times and an elevated level of service to our citizens.

Forego the purchase at this time and attempt to replace the vehicles in the FY2017 budget cycle. The police department is already requesting an additional five (5) patrol vehicles, which will meet replacement criteria during FY2017 (totaling $144,972.20). Unfortunately, it appears there may be insufficient funds to replace all five (5) vehicles.