Sheriff office impacted by supply chain issues

The Adair County supervisors gave their blessing for adjusting their budget due to the fact that the sheriff’s office is experiencing supply chain issues as they try to update their fleet of cruisers.

Sheriff Jeff Vandewater told the newspaper in a follow up email that the sheriff’s office has yet to take delivery of two vehicles he ordered over a year ago.

In May 2022, he ordered two 2022 police pursuit Chevrolet Tahoes. His preference at the time would have been to take delivery of one after July 1 of last year, then another in May of this year. Neither has happened in that time frame.

“When I place an order for vehicles, I’m trying to look 18 months ahead, as we start our budget process in say December of 2022, which would go into effect July 1, 2023, and extend through June 30, 2024,” Vandewater said. “I do my best to look at the deputies’ past mileage per year, current mileage and then take into account any other factors that I think are relevant in order to try and determine the number of vehicles to request during our budget process.”

Vandewater explained cruisers are utilized for three to four years, then traded in. Deputies generally put more miles on theirs because they have less administrative, supervisory roles in office or the jail than someone like Vandewater. All told, Vandewater’s goal is to trade vehicles in when they have between 80 and 100,000 miles on them.

Karl Chevrolet in Ankeny has the state bid for Chevrolet products. Vandewater praised their staff for being great to work with, despite challenges that are out of their control. Adair County usually gets about $17,000 back on trade-in Tahoes. Cost of a new unit is about $36,000, not including equipment.

“My understanding is that supply chain issues is certainly the factor leading to delays,” he said. “I don’t know anything about manufacturing vehicles, but for instance, I believe some 2023 model year Tahoes were arriving in Iowa before some 2022 models. Even with the delays, by trying to plan well in advance, along with preventative maintenance, we have been able to keep our fleet of sheriff’s office vehicles in pretty good condition.”

The vehicle budget line item for the sheriff’s office stands at about $70,000, and Vandewater asked the supervisors to roll that over into fiscal year 2024. They did, and will consider a budget amendment later, if needed.

“The up-fitting expense also comes out of this line item. Up-fitting would include the removal of old equipment and installation into the new vehicle,” Vandewater said. “A redesign from one generation to another also affects things as much of the equipment in my 2019 Tahoe will not fit into a 2023 Tahoe. Equipment such as the [cage], the console that houses the controllers, and many of the lights, may not transfer into the 2023 model year.”