Kane County wants more fuel-efficient vehicles

Kane County departments soon will be looking into buying more fuel-efficient vehicles, but some county board members think changes should start now.

Two board members voted against a request for three new vehicles -- two vans and a pickup truck -- for the health department at Tuesday's county board meeting.

"I think we need to take a leadership role with gas prices as they are," said Jim Mitchell, a North Aurora Republican.

The board passed the measure to buy the three vehicles for $52,995.

The county's administration committee will be taking up the issue of miles per gallon standards for vehicles bought by the county, board chairman Karen McConnaughay said.

The larger vehicles are needed for specific programs, such as West Nile virus spraying, said the health department's Claire Dobbins.

Some of the department's current vehicles are inoperable and need repairs that would cost more than their trade-in value, she said.

"We really are in desperate need of all of these," she said.

Health committee chair Gerry Jones, an Aurora Democrat, said sending the measure back to a committee was an "unnecessary delay."

"This is the health department, they are always concerned about health and environmental issues," he said. "They wouldn't buy something that was not reasonably fuel-efficient."