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02/23/10 The City of Plymouth Board of Public Works and safety approved the purchase of vehicles during a meeting on Monday, February 22; however, the decisions were made after much discussion.
Fire Chief Andy Metzker presented the one and only bid for the purchase of a 2010 model department command vehicle. The bid from Oliver Ford was accepted a cost of $27,806.
Police Chief, Jim Cox, then presented three bids for two replacement vehicles for his department. The high bid was submitted for Ford Crown Victorias by R & B Sales at $38,054. The remaining two bids were only $478 apart. It had been noted at an earlier meeting of the Board that the difference was $1000 more than the figures submitted. Cox said he found the mistake earlier in the day on Monday.
In the end, a bid for Dodge Chargers at $35,894 from Country Auto was awarded. The other bid was from Oliver Ford for Ford Crown Victorias at $36,372. The bids took into account trade-ins for two 2005 vehicles currently in the department’s fleet.
Cox said that Ford is discontinuing the Crown Victoria models next year. He said, “It is going to start depleting the inventory of our cars.”
Additional discussion came out after it was explained that a current Dodge vehicle owned by the Police Department does not fit on the lift at the city’s garage and has to be serviced at the dealership.
Representatives from both Oliver Ford and Country Auto were at the meeting. Jack Oliver of Oliver Ford said, “I think the real issue is safety for the officers.” He said they had been supplying vehicles for the city since 1956. John Oliver, also from Oliver Ford, referred to the benefit from the dealership of washing vehicles.
Ed Barcus of Country Auto said Dodge Chargers are used by several departments in Michigan and have high crash ratings.
In the end, the vote to accept the bid from Country Auto was a 3-2 vote with board members Mike Delp, Don Gardner and Wayne Smith voting in favor and Mayor Mark Senter and Mark Neidig voting against.
Garner and Delp expressed their opinions that the low bid should be accepted while noting that both bids were from local dealerships.
After the meeting, Barcus said the Dodge Chargers come complete with the necessary wiring package for the installation of police equipment.
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