Camas pimps its ride

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Code enforcement scofflaws take note: Camas has a new tool at its disposal. And it’s four cylinders, two cup holders and one fender of American-molded fiber glass.

That’s Mayor Scott Higgins stone-cold kickin’ it by the city’s new decal-bedecked ride. That’s a Ford Escape, by the way, which one car reviewer called “easy for my kids … to get in and out of” with doors of “a manageable weight.”

Perfect for the city.

As Higgins writes on his city blog, “There will be no mistaking this vehicle as it drives up to help with the enforcement of city codes.” It’s unclear whether this was an issue before — people mistaking the code enforcer for, say, some creep with an interest in fences — but that giant decal on the side of the vehicle is a dead giveaway that someone from the city is rolling by.

But is the decal too big, too ostentatious for the city? Not for the city’s branding purposes, Higgins said by phone. That thing is like a big, roving billboard for the city.

“It’s very noticeable,” Higgins said. “But it’s probably what you want in a code enforcement vehicle.”

Overall, this badboy set the city back $24,404. Perhaps it’s more than some folks would spend on a car (I’m still rocking a tape deck in a ’93 Camry). But the city’s old vehicle had fallen into disrepair, officials said. Typically, vehicles are retired from the fleet when reach a certain number of miles traveled — around 100,000. The city’s Ford Escape replaces the city’s previous code enforcement vehicle, a 2002 two-wheel drive GMC pickup truck.

And, like any responsible car-buyer, the city budgeted for its new set of wheels, Higgins said.