City vehicle purchases bring lots of ‘new car smell’ to Fresno. How much is being spent?
It’s been said that there’s nothing like that “new car smell,” the fragrance of chemicals gassing out from the plastics and carpeting in freshly built vehicles.
If that’s true, then the scent is going to be abundant in the city of Fresno’s vehicle fleet. So far in 2023, the Fresno City Council has approved purchase contracts adding up to more than $22.1 million to buy almost 170 new cars, pickups, trucks and buses.
And the council is being asked to authorize another $2.5 million for seven more vehicles at its meeting Thursday at Fresno City Hall.
The Fresno Police Department is the biggest beneficiary of the vehicle purchases. Earlier this month, a lease-purchase contract for 78 new 2024 Dodge Durango SUVs includes 75 black-and-white marked patrol vehicles for the police, plus three more for the Airport Police unit at Fresno Yosemite International Airport. That contract with Elk Grove Dodge near Sacramento is for a total of almost $3.7 million.
Sixty-eight of the new police vehicles will be replacements for older units that have reached their replacement schedule of either 10 years or 100,000 miles. Seven will be additions to the fleet, which currently numbers 424 patrol vehicles. This will be the second batch of Dodge Durango Pursuit SUVs for the Fresno Police Department, replacing aging Dodge Charger sedans and Ford Explorer SUVs. The first order of 91 Durangos began to enter service in October 2022.
The police department is also getting a new NorthStar 267-5 mobile command vehicle, approved earlier this year under a contract for about $445,000 with Braun Northwest in Washington.
The purchase of a Lenco BearCat armored tactical vehicle for almost $400,000 is among the contracts that will be considered Thursday by the City Council.
Other departments’ vehicle needs
The city also awarded a $2.4 million contract earlier this month to buy 56 Ford F-150 pickups from Swanson Fahrney Ford in Selma. Those will be distributed among an array of departments:
17 for the Public Utilities Department, 13 of which are replacements for older vehicles.
16 for the Parks & Recreation Department, all of which are replacements.
15 for the Public Works Department, nine of which are replacements.
three for the Fire Department, all of which are replacements.
two for the General Services Department.
one for the Airports Department (a replacement).
one for the Police Department.
one for the Animal Center Department.
Fresno’s FAX transit department is receiving 14 new buses after a pair of awarded contracts. In May, the purchase of two New Flyer 40-foot buses powered by hydrogen fuel cells was approved at a cost of about $2.9 million. And on Sept. 14, the city approved an $11 million order for a dozen Gillig 40-foot low-floor buses that will run on compressed natural gas. Both orders are part of an ongoing transition of the city’s bus fleet to cleaner fuels.
A $331,000 contract with Toyota of Selma, approved in August, is providing 11 new Toyota Prius hybrid cars to Fresno: 10 for the code enforcement division of the city attorney’s office, and one for the planning and development department.
Five concrete-finisher trucks in a $790,000 contract with PB Loader of Fresno were ordered in March for the Public Works Department. Another March contract with Pape Kenworth of Fresno included a $229,000 Kenworth T880 dump truck, as well as a Kenworth T880 crane truck for the water division of the Public Utilities Department for about $343,000.
In addition to the armored vehicle for the poice department, the proposed purchase contracts on Thursday’s council agenda include two Elgin CNG Broom Bear street sweepers at a cost of more than $1.1 million and three Kenworth T880 water trucks for about $765,000 for the Public Works Department; and a Freightliner asphalt patch truck for the Public Utilities Department at a price of about $189,000.
