Butler city officials have entered into an agreement that aims to replace up to 11 city vehicles in 2026, and even more in the future.

City Council voted unanimously on Wednesday, Nov. 19, to enter into a vehicle replacement plan with Enterprise Fleet Management starting in next year. The first wave of replacements, which tentatively includes four police cars and seven other city vehicles, is expected to happen sometime next summer and cost the city about $110,000.

At an October meeting, representatives from Enterprise presented an idea of what the plan would look like to council and city department heads for further consideration. No action was taken regarding the plan until the November meeting.

“I’ll be very truthful in saying, at least since I’ve been involved in city government … is that there were lots of times we were reactive when it comes to vehicles,” Mayor Bob Dandoy said while introducing the representatives.

He said, at first, he looked at a way to implement a plan internally, but began to have conversations with an account executive from Enterprise and city CFO Jason Ross about having the company manage it.

“It maximizes return on vehicles that are out there, that we have,” Dandoy said. “They have a power in the way that they buy. They know when new deals come by, when to change (a car), when to sell it, when to acquire the new vehicle — and that’s removed from our daily drawings. We have enough decisions and enough work to do.”

Enterprise’s account executive, Alex Rodkey, alongside Pittsburgh regional manager Kamil Koscik, presented the plan and took questions from city officials. They said the company has roughly 60 municipal partners and manages about 45,000 vehicles across the state.

Koscik explained the biggest change would be in how long the city can expect to keep a vehicle around, as it would exchange it to get some value back out.

“So instead of holding onto a vehicle until the wheels are falling off of it, we’re putting those vehicles on more of a fixed-life cycle — say, a five-year cycle where vehicles are being replaced on a regular basis. Those vehicles have a lot of value in them at the end of that five years,” he said.

Koscik said after the replacement plan has modernized the fleet, it will reduce maintenance costs, lower downtime and improve the safety of the vehicles. He said Enterprise makes money off management fees and service charges.

He added that currently, the average age of a city vehicle is 11 years, with 32% of police vehicles being over a decade old and 90% over six years old. He clarified that these issues are fairly common around the state as vehicle purchase, maintenance and repair costs climb.

“You have all these funds that have become available. The city wants to make a good investment with them. If we structure the program correctly, we can make this almost a self-sustaining endeavor over time so you don’t see big jumps in the budget,” Koscik said.

He explained Enterprise will work with the departments, including police, to make sure vehicles and their equipment match their specifications and they can continue working with local companies, if they so choose. Enterprise will not work with firetrucks or ambulances, however.