Yavapai County spends more than $2.2 million every year to buy new vehicles and maintain a fleet of 510 cars, trucks and utility vehicles.

Yavapai County spends more than $2.2 million every year to buy new vehicles and maintain a fleet of 510 cars, trucks and utility vehicles, including equipment, according to a report to the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors, Monday, Sept. 17.

The county replaces more than 80 vehicles a year that have 100,000 miles or five years of use, David Gartner, county fleet management director, told the board.

Gartner said the county buys fuel at a rate of $2.35 a gallon for unleaded and $2.50 a gallon for diesel through contracts with Bennett Oil and CFN Gas Services.

Yavapai County District 3 Supervisor Chip Davis asked the “cost per mile” for county vehicles.

Gartner said it varied between $0.25 per mile and $0.07 per mile, depending on the size of the vehicle.

No alternative fuel vehicles were mentioned.

The county maintains six motor pools around the communities it serves.

The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office accounts for 191 of the 230 specialized vehicles. Another 200 are standard county cars and trucks. Fifty-four of the 510 vehicles are classified as equipment, like trailers, Gartner said.

In other business, the board presented the staffs of the Sedona, Cottonwood, and Camp Verde municipal governments with an award from Gov. Janet Napolitano.

The first statewide award for land use planning, the 2007 Governor’s Excellence in Rural Development Award for Community Planning and Development was presented to a small contingent of staff representatives from Sedona, Cottonwood, Camp Verde, Clarkdale and other communities.

Enalo Lockard, assistant director for development, said the plan was 10 years in the making and a-year-and-a-half in the writing.

Davis said the county had a more general plan and that the various and county communities had developed specific plans.

The award-winning plan was a regional one since, “the communities of Yavapai County are so diverse” Davis said.

Even so, “they still share common borders and resources,” Lockard said.

The regional planning team recognized by the governor is the same group that created regional resolution teams to deal with potential conflicts regarding future plans.

How to find areas for affordable housing and maintaining open space in the county are the next issues Lockard said must be confronted.

Representatives from the Verde Valley Land Preservation Trust participated in the land use plan and were also on hand for the award presentation.

Mike Cosentino can be reached at 282-7795, Ext. 128, or e-mail to mcosentino@larsonnewspapers.com