Examiners approve $840K for new state vehicles

The Board of Examiners Tuesday approved spending $840,000 for the state motor pool to purchase 35 new vehicles.

Motor Pool Administrator Keith Wells said the vehicles range from compact sedans to larger SUV's, pickups and vans. He said all are replacing vehicles which have passed 100,000 miles, the mileage at which the state trades vehicles in. Many of the vehicles are currently assigned to law enforcement including gaming investigators and parole and probation officers.

"They've got to have a car," Wells said.

The old vehicles will be sold at auction. Wells said the state typically gets book value for them, recouping a significant amount of the cost of their replacements.

The board vote comes just a couple of weeks after legislative auditors recommended the motor pool save up to $1.6 million by delaying the purchase of new vehicles.

Wells said replacing 35 cars is being very conservative in managing the state's fleet of more than 850 vehicles.

"I normally replace 10 percent of the fleet each year," he said. "That's 85 cars, so we're being very conservative. That's less than 5 percent."

He said he also is studying how to reduce the size of the fleet in line with audit recommendations.

"Managing the fleet size is absolutely critical," Wells said.

In addition, the board approved two construction projects that will consume a third of the money freed up earlier this month by refinancing existing state bonds.

Remodeling a College of Southern Nevada laboratory building will cost $10.9 million but, without that work, Public Works Manager Gus Nunez said there's a good chance the building wouldn't be usable. The work includes replacement of the heating and air conditioning system, fire alarms and lighting.

The board voted to put $26.8 million into construction of the North Las Vegas Readiness Center for the Nevada National Guard. That is one-third of the cost of that project. The federal government will pay two-thirds.

Director of Administration Andrew Clinger said the projects also will provide numerous badly needed construction jobs in southern Nevada.

The board meeting was the first public meeting Gov. Jim Gibbons has chaired since he suffered a broken pelvis when he was thrown from a horse last month.

He did so by phone from the Reno rehabilitation center where he is recovering.