Cd'A PD to get new wheels
COEUR d'ALENE - On Monday, the city's General Services Committee approved the Coeur d'Alene Police Department request to purchase four new police vehicles.
The General Services Committee is a subcommittee of the city council, comprised of council members Ron Edinger, Steve Adams and Amy Evans. The committee vets recommendations from city staff and other advisory committees before those issues are elevated to the city council for approval.
On Monday, after the committee appointed Edinger as its chairman for 2014, Capt. Steve Childers approached the committee to ask for permission to purchase the vehicles.
Childers said all of the vehicle purchases have been approved in the city budget process, but he wanted to let the committee know that he was able to secure price commitments locally rather than relying on a statewide bid system.
"On the patrol vehicles, one of those cars is going to come from the general budget, another one of those cars is going to come from asset forfeiture money and the third patrol vehicle is coming through (Coeur d'Alene) School District 271 and a partnership we have with them," Childers said, adding the fourth vehicle is for the city's Animal Control Unit.
The police department uses a statewide bid process when purchasing police vehicles, Childers told the committee. But most of the time they can get local auto dealers to either match or beat the state bid price - and they were able to do that on at least three of the vehicles they intend to purchase this year.
Edmark Chevrolet of Nampa got the statewide bid for police vehicles, but Childers told the committee that Lake City Ford was able to beat the state bid prices by "a couple of hundred dollars" on the three Ford vehicles they are purchasing.
"Our dealerships will be able to beat those prices, so we will be able to buy locally," he said. "The one exception is the Chevrolet - we do have at least one Chevy vehicle - they have not given us the total 'yes' (saying) they are going to beat that bid."
However, every year Knudtsen Chevrolet has been able to match or beat the bid, and he said as of Monday morning they were just waiting for corporate approval to sell the department a Chevy at the statewide bid price.
If Knudtsen Chevrolet cannot meet the bid price, Childers said they will purchase the vehicle from Edmark in Nampa.
"So it is for either/or, but Knudtsen has always been able to meet the state bid that Edmark was awarded," he said. "They have always done that in the past, they have partnered with us very, very well here locally, so we assume they are going to do the same thing.
"I just wanted to make sure that you saw that we were either going to purchase from Knudtsen or Edmark. It would still be the same price."
Childers said the Chevrolet they are looking at is a front-wheel drive sedan that does not come pre-equipped with some of the equipment they will need, so the price is about $22,000.
The city is also seeking a Ford sports utility vehicle for $27,700, which will be pre-equipped for a K-9 unit. It will also purchase a Ford all-wheel drive sedan that is fully pre-equipped for a School Resource Officer at a cost of $26,000.
The city is also looking at a Ford for the Animal Control Unit to use at a cost of $23,400.
Councilman Adams asked how the purchase of the School Resource Officer vehicle would work.
City Finance Director Troy Tymesen told the committee that the city was prepared to purchase the vehicle and then seek reimbursement from the school district.
The committee voted unanimously to recommend that the city council approve the police department's vehicle acquisition plan.
It will go before the city council at its next scheduled meeting under the consent calendar.