Maplesville Town Council votes to purchase police car
Published 6:08 pm Tuesday, March 10, 2015
The Maplesville Police Department will purchase a new police car after the Maplesville Town Council approved in its monthly meeting Monday the purchase of a new cruiser.
The car, a 2015 Dodge Charger, cost a base price of $22,156 before being outfitted for use as a police car, Chief Todd Ingram said.
The car was one of three options Ingram brought to the meeting, with the others being a Chevrolet Caprice Police Pursuit Vehicle with a base price of $24,633 and a Ford F-150 Crew Cab 4×4 pickup, which had a base price of $24,367.
The new car will replace a 2006 Ford Crown Victoria with around 148,00 miles on it, which Ingram said was the oldest car in the fleet.
The council voted 4-1 to allow for the purchase the car, with Councilwoman Sheila Hall opposing the purchase.
Hall originally made a motion to purchase the Chevrolet, which Ingram said the department had experience driving a similar car at a training, but the motion died on the floor.
“I did not oppose the purchase of a new car, just the (particular) car,” Hall said later in an interview. “I was not against the purchase.”
Ingram said he had experience driving a Charger, but the choice of car was not as important as replacing the old one.
“One of the three would be fine with me,” Ingram said. “If you don’t replace one every two to three years, you end up replacing two at a time.”
The car will come from the state bid list, and if the car is purchased from the bid list before the Maplesville bid can be put in, the council will have to approve the purchase of another car.
In other business, the council:
• Voted unanimously to donate up to $2,000 for the materials to build new welcome signs for the town. The signs will be designed by three Maplesville students attending the LeCroy Career Techincal Center for a class project.
• Voted unanimously to allow Mayor W.C. Hayes to hang a welcome banner congratulating the Maplesville High School football team on its 2014 state championship on the Brown brothers’ building. Hayes said he will purchase the banner with his own money.
• Voted unanimously to allow the Maplesville Fire Department to spend up to $1,000 to fix a pump on the department’s brush fire truck.
• Voted unanimously to spend $1,500 to allow the department to attend live fire and incident command training in Tuscaloosa at a date to be announced.
• Heard from Christine Epperson with the Maplesville Fire Department about the upcoming Heritage Day, which will be held on April 11. Epperson discussed some of the attractions of the event, such as a bounce house put on by the fire department, a vintage car show and also informed the town the museum will be open for the event.
• Voted unanimously to immediately hire Timothy Franklin to the position of garbage truck worker, pending passing a mandatory drug test for all potential hires.
• Voted unanimously to hire Jamie Morrison to serve as the full-time driver for the Senior Center.
• Voted to approve a new salary for the town hall janitor. The previous salary was $8 an hour, for seven hours a week. The new salary will be $30 for two days a week.
• Voted unanimously to implement a new policy mandating that all town employees involved in accidents that require an insurance claim must take a drug test.
• Voted unanimously to buy a $35 ad in a program for a United Way Gospel Singing to be held April 11 at Clanton United Methodist Church.
•Voted unanimously to make a proclamation for Parental Alienation Awareness Week, which will be April 19-25, as well as Parental Alienation Awareness “Bubbles of Love” Day on April 25.
• Voted unanimously to approve the old minutes from the Feb. 8 meeting, as well as the financial reports and monthly bills.