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Neillsville City Council Approves the Purchase of Two Used Police Vehicles

Thursday, January 30th, 2020 -- 8:33 AM

-Neillsville’s new Chief of Police has hit the ground running as a couple items on the City Council agenda involved some items in the Neillsville Police Department.

One item on the agenda was the purchase of two used police vehicles. The department is in need of vehicles as they currently have the newest vehicle, the Tahoe, and the previous vehicle, the Charger, both on the road. Police Chief Jim Mankowski stated that if one officer is out on a call and another is doing an investigation, he, or his officers, have to use their personal vehicle to get to a call. He said that’s very dangerous and a huge liability for them. The Chief felt it’s a necessity to purchase more vehicles. Initially, when the department’s budget was put together by Interim Police Chief Patrick Fehlman, he had budgeted $27,885 for a new 2020 Ford SUV. However, the department hasn’t been vetted by Ford Motor Company to purchase the vehicle and that process takes 8 to 10 weeks. Then, it would take another 7 to 9 months for vehicle delivery after the department would agree to purchase it. And, when it would be all said and done, the original amount budgeted wouldn’t cover the cost. So, the Chief purposed purchasing two used vehicles from Chicago Motors, which deals exclusively with police vehicles.

He said he knows that some people are hesitant about purchasing used vehicles for Police Departments, but he said he’s purchased from the company before and has always been happy with their service. So, the council approved the purchase of two 2013 Ford Taurus Interceptor All Wheel Drive vehicles. They have 63,987 and 68,174 miles on them respectively and together will cost $23,200 meaning the council will come $4,663 under what was budgeted. Both vehicles will be taken to Gross Motors for service and general maintenance needs. Chief Mankowski also feels this will be a good way to get on a more efficient plant when it comes to purchasing vehicles. He also said that one of the vehicles could be set up so a city employee could use instead of their personal vehicle if it was needed. Finally, he said they would be making some changes to the graphics of the Tahoe, putting the department’s logo on the door and making it more visible.

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