Agenda - 03-15-2005-9c - Laserfiche WebLink

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equipment planned for purchase with the assistance of a three-year financing arrangement include replacement of Sheriff patrol vehicles (in accordance with the Sheriff's BOCC approved vehicle replacement plan), Emergency Medical Services Initial Response Vehicles (IRV) and ambulances, and Animal Control trucks. A detailed list of recommended vehicles is included on Attachment 1 of this abstract. Emergency Medical Vehicles The County currently has eight ambulances and twelve IRV's responding to emergency medical calls. The Board approved the replacement of four ambulances on May 18, 2004. At that time, staff stressed the need to replace all of the ambulances due to extremely high mileage and maintenance costs. EMS recently took delivery of those ambulances and staff anticipates that they will be on the road and in operation within the next two months. There is still an opportunity to purchase ambulances using the same bid as last May. The cost to purchase and equip two ambulances totals $216,408 or $108,204 each. Current mileage for the old ambulances ranges from a low of more than 226,000 to a high of more than 430,000. The average annual mileage for an ambulance is in the neighborhood of 26,000 miles per vehicle.. With regard to the IRV's, the county replaced nine of the twelve vehicles during 2002. The current mileage of these vehicles ranges from a low of 57,000 to a high of 85,000. Mileage on the three oldest vehicles exceeds 120,000. Alternative Fuel Vehicles The Board has expressed interest in actively pursuing the use of alternative fuel vehicles (AFV's) for County owned vehicles.. On February 1, 2005, the Board approved siting recommendations for aCounty-owned and operated CNG fueling station at the County's Public Works facility located on Highway 86 North. At that time the Board directed staff to add CNG vehicles to the County's vehicle inventory. For this current year, staff has been able to locate only one CNG vehicle, the Honda Civic, that is available on State contract at a cost of $22,575. As a point of reference, the price of a comparable gasoline fueled vehicle on State contract is about $12,500. Staff has also researched CNG truck options and found that the cost of a CNG four-wheel drive Chevrolet Silverado is about $26,000 compared to about $16,000 for a gasoline fueled Silverado on State contract. The County currently has twenty-four E85 (ethanol) compatible vehicles in the fleet including the Taurus, Ranger pick-up trucks and Explorer all manufactured by Ford Motor Company and the S-10 pick-up and Silverado pick-ups manufactured by Chevrolet. These particular vehicles are being fueled with gasoline at this time because there is no E85 fuel available locally. Should the Board wish to pursue installation of an ethanol tank, staff would explore the alternatives and report them to the Board at a later date. The Town of Chapel Hill is considering installation of a large E85 fueling station at the new Town Operations Center under construction on Millhouse Road. Other alternative fuel vehicles currently available on the market include: • Hybrids -There are two options for hybrid vehicles on State contract for the current year - the two-door Insight sedan or hatchback at a cost of about $21,000 and the four door Civic sedan at a cost of about $20,000 -bath manufactured by Honda Motors.. As a point of comparison, a gasoline fueled four-door sedan, the Dodge Neon, has a price tag