Brentwood approves $1.1 million purchase of 20 city vehicles

Brentwood City Council approved the purchase of 20 vehicles for various departments.

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BRENTWOOD — The Brentwood City Council recently approved the purchase of 20 vehicles for various departments for a total cost of about $1.1 million.

Out of the 20, 15 will replace others in the city’s current fleet, while the rest will be new.

The winning bid for the purchases was awarded to Bill Brant Ford in Brentwood. However, Councilmember Jovita Mendoza questioned why other regional dealers had not sent 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?” asked Mendoza at the Feb. 25 city council meeting.

She also questioned why the city did not send out bids to other dealerships in the South Bay and whether the city considered other brands besides Ford.

“Why do we stick to the north and can we start asking bids from the south,” said 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 said the city gets most of the vehicles for $500 over invoice.

“What we hear back from dealers is they don’t bid against Bill Brant Ford because he gives us a great deal,” said Wichert.

Fleet and Facilities Maintenance Manager Scott Dempsey said Brentwood’s purchasing policy states that preference be given to a local vendor if their price is within 3% of the lowest price for services or taxable goods, which can be more than $10,000 or up to $500,000.

“They automatically get it because the city gets credit back on tax,” said Dempsey, noting that he sent out the bids to multiple dealerships from various areas.

Dempsey said Brentwood’s vehicle fleet includes various brands, such as Honda and Nissan, but Ford allows the city to customize according to its needs.

“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),” said Dempsey. “With Ford, we can order what we want exactly.”

Mayor Susannah Meyer asked about the need to replace the 15 vehicles instead of maintaining them, to which Dempsey said his team evaluates the condition of every vehicle that’s due for replacement.

“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,” said Dempsey, noting that Brentwood purchases the vehicles instead of financing them.

According to a staff report, of the $1,134,200 total cost for the replacement and purchase of new vehicles, $1,096,476 was budgeted in the adopted 2024-25 operating budget. Budget savings from the Solid Waste Enterprise fund will cover the remaining amount.

Most of the 15 vehicles that needed to be replaced were older than the replacement criteria, ranging between four and 10 years, but they had lower mileage.

Councilmember Faye Maloney questioned why vehicles had such low mileage.

Dempsey explained that some vehicles were purchased due to budget allocation, but were underutilized because the vehicles did not match the purposes or jobs. He said a Ford Fiesta was purchased 18 years ago due to budget constraints, but 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,” said Dempsey. “So, it was a constant nightmare for the shop to have to always come down here and get it running again.”

Among the planned vehicle replacements, the community development department will exchange a Honda Civic Hybrid with a Ford Escape Hybrid; the finance and information systems department will replace a Ford Escape Hybrid and Fiesta with two Ford Escapes; the facilities and wastewater divisions will replace three Ford F-250 Super Duty trucks; and the police department will replace one Ford F-150 pickup and eight police interceptors.

The new vehicle purchases include a Ford Escape for the community development department’s code enforcement officer position; a Ford Ranger for parks and recreation’s administration and parks planning duties; a Ford F-150 pickup for the new wastewater collection system citywide lateral replacement program; a Ford F-250 utility truck for street maintenance; and a Ford Ranger for the solid waste division to respond to accidents, incidents, and customer complaints, among others.

Dempsey said the decommissioned vehicles will be auctioned off, and the proceeds will be channeled back to the Vehicle Equipment Replacement Fund.

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