Resolutions and pursuit vehicles

While the Saratoga Police Department is hoping to obtain funds from a Mineral Royalties Grant (MRG) through the State Lands and Investments Board (SLIB) for two new vehicles, they will be adding a used one following the April 7 meeting of the Saratoga Town Council. At the regular meeting of the governing body, a new resolution was passed for the MRG application and lengthy discussion was held on the purchase of the used truck.

New, Old Resolution

As was reported previously (see “Talking ‘bout a resolution” on page 1 of the March 25 Saratoga Sun), both the Saratoga Police Department and the Saratoga Volunteer Fire Department (SVFD) had appeared before the governing body on March 17. Both departments had submitted an MRG application with the SVFDs application submitted following passage of Resolution 2020-03 at the February 18 meeting of the Saratoga Town Council.

It was revealed at the March 17 meeting that the MRG application for the Saratoga Police Department had been submitted as Resolution 2020-05, though that resolution had not been read or approved at a public meeting. While the agenda for the April 7 meeting had the ratification of Resolution 2020-05, it was read into the record as Resolution 2020-08.

Resolution 2020-05 had originally been for the police departments MRG application, Resolution 2020-06 has not yet been read into the record and Resolution 2020-07 adopted the statewide orders put out by Governor Mark Gordon in response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). 

The initial reading of the resolution had matching funds of $62,006 for the MRG coming from the Saratoga Police Department Vehicle Budget for Fiscal Year 2019/2020, though the application would not be considered by SLIB until it’s June 4 meeting.

“Did we discuss having this coming out of the Fiscal Year 20/21 budget? I don’t have it in front of me, but I thought we had $15,000 allocated for this fiscal year or were we going to do an amendment? I’m reading the match is going to come from the Fiscal Year 19/20 budget and I don’t believe we have that amount appropriated. I thought we talked about it,” said Councilmember Jon Nelson. “If the money came in, it was going to be in the next fiscal year and so it would come out of the next fiscal year’s budget and that we were going to budget for it.”

Mayor John Zeiger agreed with Nelson, stating that due to the grant application being heard so close to the end of the current fiscal year, it should be budgeted in the next fiscal year. Following Zeiger’s agreement with Nelson, the council member asked for the resolution to be corrected to show that funds would be budgeted in the 2020/2021 fiscal year.

Resolution 2020-08 passed unanimously.

Pre-owned Pursuer

Following the approval of Resolution 2020-08, Chief Ken Lehr approached the council about purchasing a vehicle for the police department.

“We’ve got one vehicle right now we had to take in the shop because it wouldn’t even make it up the hill the other night, so we took it down there. They looked at the transmission and the engine’s got a noise in it but they can’t tell us if it’s going to make it five more miles or 5,000,” said Lehr. “So, we got to come up with something. It’s kind of spur of the moment but, as you can see, we found a decent used one.”

The vehicle presented by the police department to the council was a black 2018 Chevy Silverado 1500 for $29,990. The truck, which is pre-owned, was listed as having 57,886 miles. When asked by Nelson how much it would take to outfit the truck to be ready for the police department, Sergeant Tyler Christen stated that it would cost approximately $10,000.

According to Title 15-1-113(a) of the Wyoming State Statute, all contracts for public improvements over $35,000 must be advertised for bid with the exception of new vehicles. That same statute states that a bid must be advertised for all new vehicles regardless of cost. Town of Saratoga legal counsel Tom Thompson informed the governing body that the statute does not apply to used vehicles.

“What I’d prefer to see us do, as a Town, is buy the new vehicles with zero miles on them and … that way when we make the investment of all the outfitting, we know that it fits that vehicle and that vehicle has 10 years of life on it … rather than get into a vehicle for $30,000 that already has 58,000 miles on it,” said Nelson.

As discussion continued, Lehr stated that there had not been any maintenance on the police department’s vehicles prior to his appointment as chief. According to Lehr, the mechanic that examined the truck stated that it appeared that neither the transmission nor the engine had ever been properly maintained. When asked by Nelson how much it would cost to replace the transmission, Lehr estimated $3,200 for just the transmission without installation.

Nelson stated that he would prefer the Town of Saratoga do a budget amendment to appropriate impact funds to purchase new vehicles for the Saratoga Police Department rather than purchase a used truck. He added that, along with bids for the trucks, he would like to see the bids for outfitting the trucks properly for the police department.

As discussion continued, it was stated that it would take nearly two months for the governing body to appropriate the funds. A budget amendment would need to be read three times at a public meeting and published once in a newspaper of general circulation. The advertisement for bid would then need to be published twice, seven days apart, in a newspaper of general circulation.

“I’d rather just see us do it right and do it once,” Nelson said.

The council member made a motion to deny the request for the used truck and, instead, advertise for bids followed by a budget amendment. A poll of the council saw Nelson and Councilmember Bob Keel cast the affirming votes with Councilmember Steve Wilcoxson, Councilmember Judy Welton and Zeiger voting nay.

Wilcoxson made a motion to purchase the used truck and obtain a bid for outfitting. Keel requested an amendment to the motion that the police department look for new vehicles, clarifying that it was not an invitation to bid. The motion passed 4-1 with Nelson providing the lone dissenting vote.

The next meeting of the Saratoga Town Council will be at 6 p.m. on April 21 at Saratoga Town Hall.