Two out of three usually isn't bad, but in the case of a recent purchase by the county sheriff, it certainly wasn't what the county was expecting.

According to County Manager Eric Zamora, Sheriff Rene Rivera returned from a dealership in Texas last month with two fully equipped, ready-to-use field vehicles — pickup trucks — and one unequipped "pretty nice boulevard cruiser," when he should have returned with three fully equipped trucks.

While the county is waiting to hear back from the state procurement office on whether the purchase of that third vehicle violated the procurement code, county commissioners Wednesday night directed staff to pay for the two equipped vehicles, leaving the fate of the third truck somewhat up in the air.

In April, commissioners approved Rivera's request for $90,885 to purchase three brand new Dodge Ram 1500 crew cab 4X4 trucks for the department's fleet. The vehicles were to come fully equipped with a law enforcement package, including exterior lights, siren, prisoner "cage" and laptop stand.

When Rivera went to pick up the vehicles on June 28, two of the ordered vehicles were on the dealer's lot, while the third was still in transit, due to arrive the next day, Zamora said. The sheriff took the two equipped vehicles and substituted a third vehicle from the dealership's stock.

"The third vehicle didn't meet the procurement specifications," Zamora said. "It didn't have any police equipment installed — there's no radio, lights, siren, cage or laptop stand."

Now the method of payment for that vehicle, a white Dodge Ram 1500, is basically up to the sheriff, Zamora said.

"The commission authorized the purchase of the two that were on the purchase request," he said. "The sheriff will now need to either work with the dealer about possibly taking it back or see if he can get the state to accept the procurement. We have been trying to get an answer from them, but haven't heard back."

The county manager said it was his understanding that the white truck had several things not requested in the procurement, such as custom wheels, wood-grained trim on the interior and chrome step-ups.

"The whole intent of this procurement, the specific reason to go through this vendor, was that the vehicles came police-ready," Zamora said. "The point was made that there are not enough field vehicles, and this was supposed to address that. Instead, we end up with an administrator's vehicle instead of a field vehicle."

Zamora said when the sheriff presented the purchase to the commissioners for consideration in April, it was indicated that there was a 30-day window in which to buy the trucks or the county would lose the pricing.

"Now here we are, almost three months later, and this is what we have," he said.

Rivera said he thought the commissioners were wrong in the matter.

"That money was given to the sheriff's department to get cars that we badly need," Rivera said. "I believe this was politically motivated on their (the county's) part, and it needs to stop. They need to concentrate on doing their job instead of concentrating on making the sheriff look bad. That money belongs to the sheriff's department, and I will be seeking counsel to get that straight with the county commission and the county manager."

Rivera said when he arrived at the Dodge dealership in Galveston, two of the vehicles were there waiting, but the third was still at the train depot. The sheriff said the dealership was unsure when the final truck was going to be delivered because there was a union dispute in progress.

"They had been trying to get the trucks to the dealership for almost a month because of this union thing. The county gave me a deadline of June 30 to buy them or we would lose the grant," Rivera said. "I told them (the dealership) it was bull. They told us the trucks were ready and we came all the way from New Mexico."

According to Bert Stull, with Dallas Dodge, the vehicles were ready, but because of the rail delivery system, all three trucks did not arrive at once.

"Depending on how they are shipped, orders can be separated. They will still have consecutive VINs and were built and manufactured at the same plant, but come in at different times," Stull said.

In an interview Thursday, Stull said he was certain the third vehicle had come in by then, but wasn't sure exactly when it was delivered. Since the order had been filled, the third truck might have been transferred to another dealership, thus erasing the paper trail of the vehicle's transit, Stull said.

To make up for the missing truck, Rivera said the dealership offered the county a slightly better truck than the ones specified in the original procurement.

"We don't act on anything without a signature or approval. We had the sheriff and undersheriff standing here," Stull said. "He didn't get anything that he didn't ask for."

Invoices from the dealership show the purchase price of the three vehicles was $30,095 each, with no price difference between the two trucks fully installed with law enforcement equipment and the one without equipment installed. That total included the base price of $24,590 per truck and $5,380 for the purchase and installation of the law enforcement equipment on each vehicle plus additional fees.

The manufacturer's suggested retail price of the two vehicles that came equipped was $34,930, and MSRP on the substitute vehicle was $37,375.

"They threw in the lights, sirens, radio, everything," Rivera said. "It was all done according to procurement. In an emergency situation, you are allowed to do something else."

According to the county's procurement policy, an emergency condition is a situation which creates a threat to public health, welfare, safety or property such as might arise by reason of floods, epidemics, riots, equipment failures or similar events.

Zamora said in conversations with the sheriff, Rivera had argued that this was an emergency and compliant with the procurement policy.

"He declared an emergency, and I'm not sure he has that authority," Zamora said.

The procurement policy also says that a written determination of the basis for the emergency procurement shall be included in the procurement file.

According to Rebecca Nevarez in the county's purchasing department, no such written justification has been submitted on the purchase of the white Dodge.

Nevarez said she has approved emergency procurements in the recent past for the sheriff's department.

"There was an undercover officer who had four bald tires on his car. He told me how much it would be to replace all four and I confirmed that through Craig Tire, who we have a state contract with," Nevarez said. "They told me that if he went much over 55 miles-an-hour, there was a very real chance he would have an accident. So I did authorize that.

"If they blow out a tire or blow an engine and they have to get that unit back on the road, that's an emergency."

Nevarez said the problem with the sheriff's recent purchase was that he came back with a civilian vehicle.

"He did not come back with a police vehicle," she said. "And that's what was on the procurement request."

Rivera said he was under pressure from the county to spend the money by June 30 or lose the funding.

The funding for the vehicles, as approved by the Department of Finance and Administration, was from the state-funded law enforcement protection fund. The money came from three funding years — $13,897.33 from the 2007-08 fiscal year, $48,600 from the 2008-09 fiscal year and the remaining amount of $28,387 from the 2009-10 fiscal year.

According to county Finance Director Wilma Abril, the sheriff's department received $47,400 in LEPF funds in the 2007-08 fiscal year, $48,600 in 2008-09 and $51,000 in 2009-10. This year, the department received $48,600 in LEPF funds.

Abril said the county received a letter from the state last fiscal year directing the sheriff's department to spend the LEPF money since it included funding that had rolled over for two fiscal years.

"The letter said the money had to be spent since there were two fiscal years of carryover," Abril said. "We have to get permission from the state to roll those funds over. The letter never stated that they would take back the funds or that they would revert. It said it had to be spent by June 30, 2010."

The county asked for, and received permission from the state, to roll over a total of $107,881 in law enforcement protection funds to the current fiscal year budget. Abril said the state wanted proof that the money had been encumbered so she provided copies of the purchase order for the three vehicles.

Rivera said the equipment provided by the dealer has been installed free of charge to the county by Eagle Emergency Products of Albuquerque. Stull confirmed that the dealership included the uninstalled equipment with the white truck.

"There was no extra money spent for the installation," Rivera said. "It was done free of charge to the county."

The company that did the installation is owned and operated by former Valencia County deputy Michael Arbogast. Arbogast who resigned from the department on June 8 in the midst of an investigation into whether he used county gas pumps to fill up his personal vehicle.

According to Capt. Don Donges with the sheriff's department, the internal investigation was concluded on June 16 and did substantiate the charges. However, due to the low dollar amount involved, a criminal investigation would not be launched.

"It would be a petty misdemeanor at best, and I doubt the district attorney would prosecute," Donges said. "It's simply not cost effective."

When asked about the investigation, Arbogast said there was a lot more to the issue than what was told to the media.

Arbogast said he installed the equipment for the sheriff free of charge as a way to help get his new business off the ground. He obtained a business license from the county on June 9.

"I've known the sheriff for some time, and he needed the work done," Arbogast said. "This just helps get my name out."

When asked if it could be seen as a conflict of interest using Arbogast to install the equipment, Rivera said he didn't think so because he no longer works for the department.

He said he has done installation work free of charge for the Albuquerque and Los Lunas police departments.

When contacted, Trina Saavedra in LLPD support services said she did not know Arbogast and had never used his company for work on the Los Lunas fleet.

"We use New Mexico Emergency Products in Albuquerque and RSP Emergency in Los Lunas," Saavedra said. "I have not taken anything to him."

An inquiry into APD as to whether Arbogast has done work for them had not been responded to by press time on Friday.

After the vehicles were driven back to New Mexico, and it came to light that the third vehicle was not what was approved by the commissioners, Zamora said the county contacted the state procurement office.

"At that time, the sheriff was asked to park the vehicle until we could get direction from the state," Zamora said. "That was ignored, and about a week later, myself, the business manager and the commission chairman spoke with him again."

The manager said Rivera continued to drive the vehicle, ignoring administrative direction once again.

Zamora said he has contacted the dealership in Galveston, but it is reluctant to take the vehicle back because of the mileage that was put on it in the drive back to Los Lunas.

Since the truck is completely equipped, according to Rivera, he said he would drive the new white Dodge while his old department vehicle, with about 30,000 miles on it, would be used by a field officer.

Rivera said white units would be driven by department administrators while black units would be driven by field officers. The odometer disclosure statement from the dealership shows that the white Dodge had 212 miles on it before the nearly 700 mile trip back to Valencia County.

When asked if he would be putting his name on the three new vehicles, Rivera said he hadn't decided, but the vehicles were "grandfathered in."

In response to public concerns over the sheriff's placement of his name on about 50 department vehicles, the county commissioners unanimously passed a resolution on June 2 prohibiting county officials from putting their names on county vehicles.

The purchase of the new vehicles for the sheriff's department was approved by the commissioners on April 7.

"Everything's good now. The county got the best deal out of it. I'm not sure why certain individuals are making a big deal out of this," Rivera said. "I've always done what was in the best interest of the county and the public."

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