(The Center Square) – Spokane Police Chief Craig Meidl said it is gratifying to have the city council approve the expenditure of $3 million for 46 Ford K8 vehicles to stay ahead of supply chain disruptions.
“We are very happy to see this request move forward,” he said. “A police officer’s vehicle is, in essence, an office they spend their entire day working out of. Having a fleet that is modern and not in disrepair is not only essential for providing the level of safety and service that all officers desire to give the community, but it is also a morale boost for the department.”
The Spokane Police Department will now be able to take advantage of a narrow window in late August or early September to order replacement patrol cars through at least 2023, he said.
SPD Major Eric Olson recently told the city’s Public Safety & Community Health Committee, comprised of city councilors, that the last state window for ordering vehicles had stayed open less than 24 hours. So many orders were received in that amount of time that some had to be canceled, including Spokane’s order for two Chevrolet diesel Tahoe trucks previously authorized by the council, he said.
Not only was there fierce competition to place orders, but supply chain disruptions meant it could take a year or more to get a vehicle delivered, he said.
Olson told city officials that having fewer backup vehicles could compromise officer safety.
Councilors Jonathan Bingle and Michael Cathcart sponsored a proposal to have the city use American Rescue Plan funds to purchase the vehicles requested by the department. They said the federal stimulus dollars allowed the city to cover needs that would otherwise be difficult to fund during the regular budget cycle.
That request was pulled from the July 25 agenda without public explanation by Council President Breean Beggs.
Beggs told The Center Square via email that the proposal was erroneously listed on the agenda. He said ARP funding requests are considered separately from regular budget items. He said the council members who vet those requests did not support SPD’s proposal, so it should not have been placed on the agenda and published.
On Monday, the council unanimously approved using general funds and unallocated reserves to buy the vehicles. Several councilors stated earlier this year that they were interested in using federal stimulus dollars on other community projects.
“I would have preferred that we used ARP funds, but I’m just happy that we’re getting the vehicles,” said Bingle.
Mayor Nadine Woodward is also relieved there will be enough police vehicles on the road that officers aren’t forced to double up for patrols and respond to fewer service calls.
However, she is concerned about the funding mechanism used by the council. The city received $81 million in ARP funds to help the community recover from economic losses tied to the COVID-19 pandemic. Having those extra funds provides the city with an avenue to get the police fleet fully operational, which is an important piece of providing public safety, said Woodward.
By using reserves and general fund dollars instead, she said the city might not have monies readily available to meet emergent needs.
“That’s going to creates some challenge for us,” she said.
She said SPD is in need of more vehicles than have been purchased this year to catch the fleet up in its rotation.
There are 99 police vehicles with more than 100,000 miles, which triggers higher maintenance costs, according to Rick Giddings, director of Fleet Services.
He told council members in July that, within two years, 53 more police vehicles would reach their life expectancy. He said patrol cars were subject to more wear and tear, so they did not last as long as models driven by citizens.
The 46 vehicles that were authorized Monday are in addition to 35 the council approved earlier this year at the cost of $2.3 million in ARP funds.
SPD had requested 64 vehicles in the first round of ARP funding distribution in March, but Cathcart and Bingle were defeated in their bid to grant that request. At that time, Meidl said more than 200 vehicles were needed to ensure the fleet was operating at maximum efficiency.
