Sheriff's new-car request runs head-on into backlog

The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office recently requested six new Interceptor cars that, fully outfitted, cost about $60,000 each.

Yet when County Commissioners Chris Fillios and Bob Bingham recently toured the jail, they noticed eight new cars not in use.

“I remember commenting to Bob, ‘Geez, that’s a lot of vehicles just sitting there,’” Fillios said. “They weren’t hiding them. They were out there in the open. They’re brand new. They had not been outfitted yet.”

According to county financial records, purchase of the eight had been authorized last October, paid for in February this year and the county likely picked them up in March. Since then? The cars haven’t budged.

And so commissioners, who hold the county’s pursestrings, had raised eyebrows and lowered thumbs when Sheriff Ben Wolfinger and Undersheriff Dan Mattos made their request for six new cars as part of the next fiscal year budget.

“I pointed out, ‘Wait a minute guys. You’ve got eight sitting on the lot,’” Fillios said. “They said they hadn’t been able to get them done yet. I get it, but the fact is, I’m not going to budget for six more if you can’t handle the eight you’ve got.”

Fillios added: “I don’t think there’s anything devious here. I really don’t. It’s not a question of whether or not they need them. I’m simply saying that to go ahead and tax the citizens ahead of when they’re needed probably doesn’t make any sense. So let’s see how soon we can get the eight deployed and then go from there.”

Nothing would make Wolfinger happier. Speaking Monday with The Press, the sheriff said the problem stems from an overburdened shop getting the cars outfitted.

“It takes about two weeks for two guys to completely outfit a car,” he said, noting cameras and cages, radar systems and radios, lights and more are all part of the complete car package — and that doesn’t include striping, which is done by a local vendor.

“It’s certainly a strain on our shop,” Wolfinger said. “They also have the rest of the fleet of county vehicles to maintain as well as trying to outfit everything, so it is a huge issue for us.”

Wolfinger explained his department’s request for more cars before the previous eight could be deployed is part of a fleet management program Kootenai County adopted two or three years ago. Also, all the parts must be available, he said, before outfitting can actually begin. That’s not as easy as it sounds.

“When we got all our radio systems in, Motorola forgot to include the sirens,” he said. “If you’re going to take the front end of the car apart to put in the push bumper, you don’t want to take it apart a second time to put the siren in. So we had to wait ‘til the sirens got here.”

Wolfinger said he’s met with the captain who oversees the shop and with the person who oversees the fleet management program, trying to find solutions.

“It’s frustrating,” he said, but added he’s looking for other options.

One might be to add a part-time employee to ease the workload on the shop. Another would preserve buying cars locally but perhaps “drop-shipping” them to a place that would outfit them.

“If it comes out quicker and cheaper, I’d hope that would be approved by the board,” Wolfinger said.