To: Board of County Commissioners
Through: Michelle Halstead, Acting Director, Facilities & Fleet Management Department and Jared Rowlison, Undersheriff, Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office
Prepared By:
prepared
Randy Campbell, Fleet Division Manager, Facilities & Fleet Management Department
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presenter
Presenter: Michelle Halstead, Acting Director; Jared Rowlison, Undersheriff
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Subject:
title
1:45 PM *Request to approve $129,553.69 in general funds for additional costs associated with 10 sheriff’s office vehicles approved in the 2026 budget
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Purpose and Request:
recommended action
The purpose of this drop-in is to seek approval from the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) for additional $129,553.69 in general funds associated with 10 vehicles for the sheriff’s office that were approved in the 2026 budget, consistent with Resolution 160622. If approved, staff will proceed with purchases to ensure timely equipment delivery and finalize the fund transfer actions to the appropriate fund during the Q1 2026 Budget Supplemental to facilitate purchases.
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Alignment with Strategic Plan: Safe and Healthy Communities - Advance public safety by strengthening partnerships across law enforcement, emergency response, and community stakeholders.
Background and Discussion: Consistent with the County’s Capital Asset Policy (Resolution 160622), a capital asset replacement is defined as the replacement of a capital asset that is worn out, obsolete, or that has reached the end of its useful life with another similar capital asset that will provide similar functionality as the originally purchased capital asset. If a department or elected office has determined that the replacement capital asset will not be like the asset being replaced or will fulfill a different function, the requesting department or elected office shall seek the approval of the BOCC for such a change.
Each capital asset request considered by the Board should include all costs associated with the purchase of the capital asset, including ancillary costs such as freight, design, installation, professional services and fees. If an approved capital asset costs less than the budgeted amount, the savings will remain in the Central Service Fund to offset additional costs on other capital assets.
On an annual basis, the fleet services division identifies which vehicles within the county’s fleet should be replaced based on a data-informed system and established policies. This information is shared with each department and elected office during the annual budget process, with subsequent and iterative meetings to determine scope of replacements. Based on individual discussions, the fleet division solicits financial quotes for equipment replacement, which is then provided to the finance department for inclusion in the county’s budget development system. Each department and office is responsible for selecting the appropriate piece of equipment and add-ons for “like-to-like” replacements or new/upgraded requests from the budget system catalogue, documenting any other details that need to be considered for inclusion in their budget requests.
The 2026 Budget included the replacement of 68 vehicles for the sheriff’s office, totaling about $5.25 million. To address persistent challenges of equipment delivery, the facilities and fleet department worked with the sheriff’s office and the finance department to accelerate purchase requisitions upon budget adoption in 2025, based on the approved capital asset requests. During this process, it was discovered that there was an awareness gap regarding established county policy and perceived historical practices, procedural deviations in fleet division processes, unknown timeline constraints with local upfitting vendors, and submittal gaps within the budget request system.
As a result, about 42 percent of the vehicles approved during the budget process required scope changes to meet the sheriff’s office business needs. Of those, 10 exceeded the cost variance threshold, which necessitates additional funding from the Board in the amount of $129,533.69. The Facilities and Fleet Department, in partnership with the Sheriff’s Office, is working through a process improvement effort to ensure there is clarity of expectations and documentation for the 2027 budget process to avoid these issues going forward. The teams have made positive strides, establishing vehicle templates for future replacement needs, completing the first physical audit of the sheriff’s fleet, and drafting a vehicle buy-back policy to maintain assets. To date, the department has completed procurement of 46 vehicles to achieve 2026 delivery, with another 12 in the financial workflow, awaiting approval from the sheriff’s office.
Alternatives: The Board could decide not to fund the additional cost to procure identified equipment needs, which likely could result in further procurement delay due to availability of upfitting vendors for “like-to-like” replacements and operational impacts based on now finalized business needs.
Fiscal Impact: $129,553.69
Alignment with Strategic Implementation Strategies: N/A
Staff Recommendation: Staff recommends approving the additional funding as requested based on the shared process issues identified during implementation.
Concurrence: The Sheriff’s Office and Finance Department concur with this request.