Trustees OK adding 5 police cars to fleet

Using state purchasing removes appearances of favoritism, the chief said.
BOARDMAN -- The township will get five new police cars through a lease-purchase agreement despite the objections of one trustee and a trustee-elect.
Trustees Elaine Mancini and Tom Costello voted in favor of the agreement for five 2006 Ford Crown Victoria cruisers from Statewide Ford Lincoln Mercury of Van Wert, Ohio, for $109,068, including interest. The deal is through state purchasing.
Kathy Miller voted against the motion.
At a meeting last month, Robyn Gallitto, a trustee-elect, questioned the expenditure, arguing that it would be less expensive to buy the vehicles outright.
At a meeting this week, Gallitto reiterated her concerns. She said the cars are being financed for four years, which is longer than the life expectancy for a police car. If the department can't afford to buy five cruisers with what's in its budget, then maybe it should buy only four, she suggested.
How cars are used
Police Chief Jeffrey Patterson agreed it would be less expensive to buy the cars outright, but said he doesn't have enough money in his budget, and a lease-purchase agreement was an alternative. Since he's been chief, the department has bought five cars per year, he said.
Though a car remains a patrol vehicle for about three years, it spends another one or two years with the department as an unmarked vehicle, Patterson said.
"That has kept us from buying new unmarked cars," he said, adding that the department has bought only two new unmarked cars during his five years as chief.
At a meeting last month, Miller renewed a request that the township buy vehicles from local dealerships.
Patterson said that none of the local dealerships participate in the state purchasing program, however.
Using state purchasing removes appearances of favoritism or cronyism when the department buys vehicles, the chief added.
In casting her dissenting vote, Miller said she's against leasing and that she's "never been in favor of using the state purchasing program."
Miller said she'd like to see the township seek bids locally instead of through lease-purchase agreements.
Mancini said that because the state purchasing price already has been publicized, the township can't seek bids.