The Doña Ana County (N.M.) manager has banned departments from using outside vendors to perform vehicle repairs, as a cost-containment strategy partly aimed at the county sheriff's department, reports the Las Cruces Sun-News.

County Manager Julie Brown issued a memo on Feb. 16 stating that county-owned vehicles must be repaired by the fleet department. However, the fleet manager has been authorized to use outside vendors "when necessary."

Sheriff Enrique "Kiki" Vigil began outsourcing most of the maintenance and repair work in July to two companies by piggybacking onto a state contract. Sheriff's personnel said there have been "issues in the past" with the quality of work done by the fleet department.

Fleet manager Gabe Silva said his department offers "competitive" rates for the repairs.