DAPHNE, Ala. — The Daphne Police Department has an “aging” fleet of patrol cars, said Capt. Daniel Bell, as the city has not purchased many replacement cars in recent years.

Bell approached the city council during a work session Monday to discuss the purchase of five patrol vehicles to replace five of the patrol cars currently on the fleet with the most miles and in the worst condition.

The police department’s fleet currently consists of Ford Crown Victorias, but Bell said after this year Ford is taking that model off the market, which forced him to consider an alternative vehicle to replace the aging vehicles.

After extensive research, Bell came up with the Chevy Tahoe as a viable replacement for the Crown Victoria. Bell said the new vehicles, if approved by the council next week, would replace the five oldest vehicles on the fleet. The vehicles set to be replaced were made in 1999, 2000 or 2001. Bell said the older a vehicle gets, the more expensive maintenance costs become and the vehicles he wants to replace have exceeded their projected lifespan as a police vehicle, which he said is seven years.

“These vehicles have exceeded their life expectancy; they have been on the road for more than 10 years,” said Bell.

Public Safety Committee and council member August Palumbo said ideally five police vehicles should be purchased each year to keep the fleet of patrol cars up to date and running well, but in recent years five replacement vehicles have not been purchased. Last year the city purchased just three vehicles to replace vehicles totaled in accidents, but not to replace aging vehicles.

Bell suggested the council approve the purchase of five new Chevy Tahoes to replace aging vehicles for a total price of $180,000. The Tahoe will cost more than the Crown Victoria, but Bell said the difference in price would be made up later on when the police department has no more use for the cars because the resale value is much higher than the Crown Victoria.

The Public Safety Committee and the Finance Committee also recommended the city council approve the purchase of the all five replacement vehicles at the next council meeting. After discussion at the work session, the purchase of the new cars was moved to the council agenda.

Bell said he chose the Tahoe as a replacement vehicle after researching many factors, including a study federal agencies including the FBI use to ascertain the value of vehicles for police work. The study determined fuel economy, buyback value, maintenance costs and how well a vehicle could withstand the day-to-day use as a police patrol vehicle. Bell said the Tahoe scored better on resell value, fuel economy and maintenance costs than the Crown Victoria.

Bell also considered alternative vehicles to replace the Crown Victoria including the Dodge Charger and the Chevy Malibu, but Bell said both vehicles were too small to accommodate all of the equipment police officers require.

Bell said another key selling point was the size and safety of the Tahoe. Bell said a main concern is officer safety, which he feels is better in a Tahoe because of its size, than in a Crown Victoria. He also said some of the equipment currently in the Crown Victoria vehicles being replaced could be moved to a bigger vehicle, but the equipment cannot be placed in a smaller vehicle. Bell said the larger vehicle will also improve visibility of the police force because it is much easier to see from points higher off the ground.

The council is expected to vote on the purchase of the new police patrol cars Monday.

Also Monday, the council:

• Discussed hiring a CPA for the finance department. Finance director Kim Briley approached the council to create the position because the department’s workload has increased from $3 million worth of accounts 15 years ago to $46 millions worth of accounts.

Briley said with the increased work load the department “seems to be falling further and further behind,” which has impacted the department’s ability to implement new technology.

The council decided to put the appointment on Monday’s agenda.

• Discussed hiring employees for the grounds department. Public Works director Richard Johnson approached the council to replace one vacant position, but the 10-member department is actually only working with seven employees on any given day. Johnson said just one of the three positions was vacated when the employee resigned last week. He said the other two positions are held by employees who are not able to work due to medical issues.The council agreed to place the appointment of a replacement grounds department worker on the council agenda for next week.
• Johnson also approached the council to discuss the hiring of a mechanical engineer to fill a vacant position. The finance committee recommended the position be filled and the council decided to place the item on next week’s agenda.