The city approved the $42,484 purchase at its Sept. 28 City Commission meeting. The vehicles cost $21,242 each and are expected to arrive in 8 to 10 weeks.

The decision to purchase the Crown Victorias came from the Director of Public Safety Anthony Gomez-Mesquita’s recommendation.

The city looked at purchasing two 2010 Dodge Chargers, he said, but decided on Crown Victorias for a number of reasons.

“The biggest financial savings was the fact that equipment we take off will fit exactly,” Gomez-Mesquita said.

The Crown Victorias were less expensive, did not cost extra for a paint job and the city already had police equipment for the model, he said.

The older cars will be sold or will replace other cars in the department, and if either is sold the money will go into the city’s General Fund, Gomez-Mesquita said.

The Mount Pleasant Department of Public Safety is a member of the Michigan Inter-Governmental Trade Network, and will receive the cars from Signature Ford Lincoln Mercury in Owosso. Membership in the MITN ensures police vehicles can be purchased at a cheaper rate than on the open market.

At the Sept. 14 City Commission meeting, several commissioners expressed interest in purchasing the police vehicles through a local dealership instead of through the MITN.

The Commission postponed the decision to find out if it could re-bid the cars to local dealerships to stimulate the local economy, said City Commissioner David McGuire.

“It’s a fair deal for the city,” McGuire said. “The intention of postponing that (was) to see if we could, after knowing what their price was, seek prices.”
The Commission has plans to revisit the city’s purchasing policy this year, McGuire said.

“Unfortunately our agreement with the state purchasing group precludes us from doing that,” he said.

The Commission is unable to re-bid the police cars with the prices provided by the MITN.

Wear and tear

The wear and tear on police vehicles is quite different than of a regular passenger car, Gomez-Mesquita said.

“The overall abuse is much different than a passenger vehicle,” he said.

Police cars are expected to run 24 hours a day, he said, and other factors include the rapid acceleration and turns a vehicle may be required to make.

With these factors, Gomez-Mesquita said, police vehicles need to be replaced faster than similar passenger vehicles. The city begins to look at replacing their police cars at 80,000 to 90,000 miles, he said.

Police vehicles last an average of three years in the department, he said. There are currently eight police patrol cars in the city’s fleet.