Redkey council agrees to car/truck swap (09/28/06)

REDKEY - Following about a half an hour of debate in a special Wednesday afternoon session, town council members here decided to order a 2007 police car and sell or trade in the department's 2002 four-wheel-drive pickup truck and snow plow blade.

The 3-1 vote came after council member Violet Erlenbush warned that the move could put town employees in a bind when the snow plowing season begins.

Erlenbush, a Redkey utilities department employee who helps plow town streets in snow emergencies, told Marshal Donnie James that without that four-wheel-drive truck - "We're in bad shape on snow removal."

Noting that the new squad car will benefit the police department and save money on gasoline, Erlenbush said, "Yeah, they (the police) are going to be looking good, but we'll be looking bad when snow plowing time comes."

Council president Dottie Quakenbush said that she thought the town could handle snow plowing needs with its three remaining plow vehicles, and she voted with the majority to order the 2007 squad car and either trade-in or sell the truck and snow plow.

Council members Darrell Smith and Dottie Toy also favored that plan. Council member Joyce Harshbarger was absent from the meeting, and Erlenbush cast the lone negative vote.

Erlenbush said she would rather see the police department get a new car by obtaining financing, and have the town keep the truck for street department use and snow plowing purposes.

However, James pointed out that the police department's budget could not handle such a move, and selling or trading in the 2002 Ford F250 truck was the most cost efficient way to purchase a new police vehicle.

"I'm trying to look at this 10 years down the road, and you're looking at it for today," James told Erlenbush.

Meanwhile, Quakenbush commented, "I know we're between a rock and a hard place - I know that."

Quakenbush said that the Kelly Blue Book price on the truck was $24,000. It has about 30,000 miles, she added.

James said the Ken Kunkle Chevrolet-Cadillac dealership had given the town a quote of $19,293 on a 2007 Chevrolet police-special Impala and offered a trade-in price of $15,000 for the Ford truck and its snow plow.

However, James said that price could not be held indefinitely, and he asked for permission to place the order for the new car with payment to be arranged in about four to six weeks when the 2007 car is delivered.

James said the town could either accept the trade-in price or try to sell the truck and snow plow separately or together by placing an advertisement in local newspapers. Quakenbush said she favored placing the advertisement and trying to sell the truck and snow plow, either as one unit or separately.

Redkey clerk-treasurer Sandy Kirby pointed out that if the truck doesn't sell, the town would need to approve the trade-in and then borrow about $4,000 to complete the deal.

Erlenbush suggested that it would be better to transfer the police pickup truck to the street department, and try to get a loan for the entire price of the 2007 squad car.

"Why can't we figure out how we could keep the police truck and buy a new car, too?" she said. "Why can't the police make payments on a new car?"

"The police can't afford that truck," James said, asking if the street department had any money in its budget to transfer toward the purchase of the new squad car, approximately $15,000, if the truck was not sold or traded-in. As discussions continued, these questions by James and Erlenbush went unanswered.

James said that the truck uses too much gasoline for police department purposes. He pointed out that he was not on the department when it was purchased, and he questioned the wisdom of purchasing it in the first place.

The marshal added, "You can't catch burglars, running up and down the street plowing snow."[[In-content Ad]]