Agenda - Council - 08/23/2022 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Councilmember Howell asked Finance Director Lund if they could get the number difference if they move the recreation specialist to 30 hours versus 40 hours. Councilmember Woestehoff said that he would also like to see the numbers of what it would look like at 29, 30, and 40 hours for that role. Acting Mayor Riley started the discussion on capital requests. He asked Council if everyone was comfortable with what was already discussed in regard to the police department requests or if anyone had any further questions. Councilmember Woestehoff added that when it comes to the police vehicles, he would be in favor of adding two Explorer hybrids as opposed to a Tahoe and an Explorer hybrid. He believes that the gas savings would be made up in a year. Acting Mayor Riley asked Police Chief Katers, since these vehicles are on the list, if this is the police department's criteria and what they need. Police Chief Katers explained they buy from the State purchasing contract so they do not have to negotiate the price of vehicles. The City buys them out of the State contract which has already been negotiated. He said that he noticed that this year, the cost difference between a gasoline only vehicle and a hybrid vehicle for the Ford Explorers are the same. He said there used to be around a $10,000 price difference between the gasoline only and hybrid; however, now they are the same price. He said that the Ford Explorers are $41,000, a Tahoe is slightly less, and the Chargers are about $10,000 cheaper, as well as being around $2,500 cheaper to equip. He added that the Charger is the only vehicle they can get as a sedan, since Ford stopped making the sedan style and only makes utility vehicles. He said that when they order the vehicles, if they are ordered with the equipment they want and do not take from existing stock, it would take over a year for the police department to receive the vehicle. He mentioned that some of the non -primary vehicles, such as the 2005 Ford F-150, are currently assigned to investigations. He noted that any of the vehicles that they have on patrol need to have a police package. Councilmember Specht asked if they could utilize retired police vehicles as a vehicle for the new building inspector since it would just be driving around to the different sites that need inspection. Police Chief Katers said he cannot answer the question per community development; however, when the vehicles are not being used by the police department, if another department within the City has a use for the vehicles, they get first priority before they are sent to auction. He added that this typically does occur, as most of the seasonal maintenance and parks vehicles are former squad cars. He added that building maintenance has a few of the old Tahoes, the Public Works director used to have a Tahoe, and the City is able to utilize these vehicles to get the maximum life possible out of them in other departments within the City. He said that when the police department gets rid of a vehicle, there are typically between 100,000 and 125,000 miles on the vehicles and they rely on their mechanics to tell them when they have put more into the vehicles than what they are worth. So, it is not just dependent upon mileage or age of the vehicle, noting the City has fleet management. He added that there is one more vehicle request this year because it was a request City Council Work Session / August 8, 2022 Page 15 of 19