DuPage County’s Finance Committee approved several vehicle awards on Dec. 9 to refresh sheriff's office fleet, covering 18 vehicles including 2 Ford Transit cargo vans, 3 Ford Explorers and 13 Ford Interceptors after staff cited a vendor-supplied December 21 cutoff to secure pricing under state contract.

"Fleet maintenance tells us which vehicles are being taken out of service... That's where the confusion was," a county staffer explained, saying the replacements — two transport vans, three civilian (detective) vehicles and 13 squad cars — were recommended by fleet maintenance after mechanical assessment. Staff also said the vehicles are being purchased via state contract so local dealer pricing would be largely the same.

Some members pressed staff to check whether DuPage-area Ford dealers could supply the vehicles and questioned the nearly $1 million scale of the purchase. "We're spending almost $1,000,000 buying 18 vehicles," one member said, adding local-dealer preference concerns. Staff replied that state contract terms and local inventory limited alternatives and that the vendor cutoff required ordering now to meet delivery timelines.

The committee carried motions for award resolutions to Curry Motors Frankfort Inc. (three Explorer and 13 Interceptor awards) and Curry Motors, Frankfort for two Transit vans; totals discussed on the record include $120,720 for the two Transit cargo vans, $120,327 for three Explorers and $598,559 for 13 Interceptors. Members asked about ownership, trade-in or auction disposal of replaced vehicles; staff explained vehicles are county-owned and that disposition options include auction, trade-in, downcycling within county fleets or scrapping depending on condition.

All vehicle awards were approved by voice vote.