This week, the Spring Hill Board of Mayor and Alderman voted to purchase 7 police vehicles, which was the end of a process that was more complicated than you might think.
The money to purchase the vehicles was budgeted last Spring, and the police department had been stretching their current vehicles as far as they could, after unexpected shortages delayed the purchase.
Board members accepted a bid of $188,023.55 from Lyons Chevrolet of Columbia for the purchase of two V-8 2014 and five V-6 2016 Chevrolet Caprices, to be used as patrol vehicles. It was, in fact, the highest of the three bids the city got, when it had to pivot away from its police vehicle plan this summer and fall.
The police department, which as part of the city has a partnership with General Motors, was budgeted nearly $300,000 to purchase and retrofit for police use 7 patrol vehicles in this current year’s budget. But it ran into a problem when GM announced the discontinuation of the Caprice model, which the police planned to switch to when they found out last spring that the Impala would no longer be made. Basically, two swings and two misses through no fault of the police or city.
GM also announced that it would no longer produce a patrol sedan model, for the time being at least, leaving the Tahoe as the only current GM model that will still be sold for patrol. Don Brite, the police chief, told the board that he found a factory in Australia that could fill the order for 7 Caprices, but that delivery could take up to a year, at least six months, at a state-contract cost of $201,344.92. In response, the city decided to go off of the state contract, which is the normal way to buy police vehicles. So after putting out a bid, there were three responses. All three were cheaper than the state contract Caprice option.
Dodge of Columbia offered seven 2016 Chargers for a total price of $163,765.00– the price (on all the bids) includes a custom police paint job.
Golden Circle Ford offered seven 2017 Interceptor sedans for $163,464.00.
And Lyon’s offered two 2014 and five 2016 Caprices for $188,023.55. The 2014 models cost $24,500 each; the 2016 cost $25,500 each.
Additionally, there is a little more than another $110,000 cost to outfit the vehicles for police use.
Because of the city’s partnership with GM, however, it did not choose the lowest bid, but was able to stick with the Caprice and remain within its just-under $300,000 budgeted amount for the purchase.
The thought is that the city will make up the difference in the long run by being all GM.
“I support GM, I am a GM guy,” Brandon McColloch, Ward 4, said. “And we have 98 percent of [city owned vehicles] are GM. But if it was Dodge or Chrysler, I would say the same thing. This board has just opened up a mechanical repair shop for the city that I think will pay dividends down the road. If we had a fleet of 98 percent Dodge or Chrysler, I would say stick with what you have. Otherwise you would have to get a different set of belt, different filters, you have got to have a bigger parts room, different tools, and start training people in [something other than GM] … I support the Lyons bid.”
There was some apprehension about purchasing two 2014 vehicles.
“I am in support of supporting GM, obviously, and appreciate them finding the vehicles for us, but generally I am not in support of the 2014 vehicles, especially paying new car value for them,” Chad Whittenburg, Ward 1, said. “They have been sitting on a lot for 2 years, they haven’t got miles on them, sitting on a lot for two years, just sitting. I don’t like the idea of buying a two-year-old car, two-and-a-half-year-old car, paying new-car value for it.”
McColloch, however, was not as concerned.
“It would be nice to get 2016s, but we live in a world where we can only get 2014s,” he said. “The 2014 vehicles come with the full 100,000-mile bumper to bumper warranty. I talked with a service manager that is a good friend of mine, and personally I don’t have a problem with the vehicles being two years old. I talked to him and shared my concerns. And he said if anything is wrong with it, it will be covered under the warranty.”
The option of purchasing two Tahoes instead of the Caprices came up. But the Tahoes are more expensive than the sedan models, and would most likely put the purchase over budget. It was raised as a possibility for next year.
“We talked about so many different scenarios of how we would make this fleet, this year work,” Amy Wurth, Ward 1, said.
“We will be in this situation next year, so until GM comes up with a solution for their police package vehicles, as soon as we pass our budget next year we should see what our options are as soon as possible to try to get our expenses as soon as possible.”
