The new cars -- three Chevrolet Impalas and three Dodge Chargers -- will cost a total of $113,317.95 and will be financed for "not more than five years" under the recently adopted municipal loan agreement between the city and Regions Equipment Finance Corporation.
Three of the vehicles are included in this year's capital purchases budget; two are insurance purchases to replace vehicles that have been totaled by officers; the other is to help freshen the department's fleet, which includes several high-mileage units.
"What we're trying to do is get back onto a regular replacement schedule with our police cars," said Mayor Jim Byard Jr. "Right now, we have several cars with over 140,000 miles on them. Our policy has been to keep the cars no longer than six years or until they had 100,000 miles on them, before we move them off front-line patrol.
Little discussion arose from the proposal to purchase the Chevrolets, which are the standard cruiser model used by the local police force, and the plan received unanimous council approval. The cars will come from Larry Puckett Chevrolet and will cost $18,315.65 each.
The decision to purchase the Dodges, which have a price tag of $19,457 each, from Mike Patton Chrysler Dodge Jeep in LaGrange, Ga., prompted a little more discussion before council members also voted unanimously to approve that purchase.
"The Dodge Chargers are new to our police line," Byard said. "I talked with our local Chevrolet dealer and told him we want to test these cars and see how they do."
"I talked to some of our Dodge dealers here in Prattville, and they were not comfortable with the program Dodge presented before the state," Gillespie said. "That's the reason we had to go an outside, not a home-grown, dealer."
Gillespie pointed out that the newest models to be incorporated into the city fleet wouldn't create too many problems for city vehicle maintenance personnel.
"Under this program the city can send a technician to Dodge, at no charge except for room and board, to train on these vehicles," the District 1 representative said. "That way, our people can stay up-to-date on these cars."
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