Peachtree City police will get eight new patrol vehicles, but a request to use leftover savings to buy a previously-delayed motorcycle was denied unanimously by the City Council last week.
The city will spend $148,546 for seven Ford Crown Victoria patrol cars, another $25,366 for a Chevy Tahoe patrol vehicle and another $97,329 to add the needed aftermarket equipment to each, including cameras and radios.
Police Chief H.C. “Skip” Clark had proposed using $5,400 of a $7,123 in savings from the project to purchase the first year of a two-year lease on a second Harley Davidson police motorcycle. The department added its first motorcycle patrolman just this year.
Councilman Eric Imker said he didn’t want to spend money “for what I believe may be a nice ‘want to have,’ not a ‘gotta have’ on this motorcycle.”
Clark noted that the department’s lone motorcycle works traffic enforcement and crash investigations, and it can go many areas where a police car can’t go.
Imker contended that the police department is already doing a fantastic job and he didn’t think the lack of a motorcycle would hinder the department.
It was also noted that when the two motorcycles were put in last year’s budget, before one of them was taken away due to budget cuts, that they were replacing one patrol car in a cost-saving move.
The motion to not fund the motorcycle purchase was unanimous.
The police department will be taking out of service eight Crown Victorias that will be evaluated by pulic works for potential assignment to other departments, according to a city memo.
