FPUD approves replacement of four fleet vehicles

The Fallbrook Public Utility District will be replacing four of its fleet vehicles.

FPUD's board voted 5-0 June 27 to approve the purchase of two Ford F150 4x2s and two Ford F150 4x4s from Fritts Ford Fleet Center in Riverside for a total of $108,332.44. The price for the 4x2s was $25,317.31 apiece while each 4x4 cost FPUD $28,848.91.

"This is based upon a fleet replacement master plan that we developed two years ago, so this replacement recommendation is in accordance with that plan," said FPUD general manager Brian Brady.

FPUD's on-road equipment fleet currently consists of 48 vehicles with an average age of 11 years and an average mileage of 59,000. Some vehicles such as engineering vehicles have lighter use while other vehicles such as vactor trucks have heavy use with low mileage. FPUD staff typically moves less reliable vehicles into lighter service such as engineering before removing them from the fleet entirely, which increases the useful life of those vehicles.

In March 2015 FPUD's board approved an off-road heavy equipment and fleet replacement program. The plan called for the replacement of two half-ton trucks in 2015-16 and two half-ton trucks in 2016-17. Fritts Ford Fleet Center submitted the lowest bid for both the 4x2 trucks and the 4x4 vehicles.