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Interim Police Chief Chase Sons received the board’s approval of three items involving the purchase of several vehicles and surplusing an old department vehicle in the second January meeting.

City Administrator Jason Quick asked Sons to give an explanation for the three items regarding the police department.

The first item was a request for the purchase of a 2022 Nissan Murano ($28,701) and a 2023 Nissan Frontier ($34,701) from Newton Ford South in Shelbyville.

“That’s going to be purchased out of the drug fund,” said Sons. “Which will come at no cost to taxpayers of Tullahoma. That’s money we have set aside from seizures. That money’s been set aside for a while, and it’s time we utilized it instead of going and asking for money from the taxpayers.”

Mayor Pro Tem Jenna Amacher addressed Sons’ request first, explaining the drug fund and how it does not affect the city’s general fund.

“At first glance, I was like ‘oh, we’re buying a lot of vehicles again, we just bought a lot of vehicles,’ but I will say this, based on my understanding of the drug fund–and a lot of the citizens may not know this–the drug fund is not our general budget, and the drug fund, the way I understand it, is we are simply rubber stamping what you want to do, Mr. Sons,” said Amacher. “Because one of the things that’s under your authority is to determine what to do with those funds. We may get to ultimately check yes or no, but we don’t really have a right to tell you how to spend those funds so long as you are within the parameters of what those funds are to be used for.”

Sons went on to explain that the purchase of the two vehicles was to replace two 2010 Ford Explorers that had been in rotation for 14 years. The item was approved without opposition, with Alderman Daniel Berry motioning and Alderman Bobbie Wilson seconding.

The next item was a request to surplus a Chevy Impala, which Sons said was in rotation for quite some time. He said that there were still three Chevy Impalas left in rotation, but that they couldn’t salvage this particular one. Berry motioned for approval, and Wilson seconded, and the item was approved unanimously.

The last item put forward by Sons was a request to be authorized to purchase two 2023 Ford Interceptor SUVs and three 2023 F-150 Police Responders. The total cost for the five vehicles was $192,453, but with outfitting of emergency equipment and installation costs, the total cost was $271,379.

“That money’s going to come from the American Rescue Plan Act, which is money awarded to the city,” said Sons. “This will come to no cost to the taxpayers of Tullahoma. That money has to be committed by Dec. 31, 2024 or we have to give that money back.”

He said even with the total cost of the vehicles, they would still have $125,885 left in the fund.

“The question did come up, when we first asked for this, were these vehicles just going to go to the SROs (School Resource Officers) to sit in the parking lot for the majority of the time,” said Sons. “The short answer to that is no. These will be used to replace patrol vehicles. The patrol units that are being replaced will be handed to the SROs.”

Sons added that “if we get these five, then we’ll only need one more, and then our fleet system will be up to date.”

Amacher addressed the issue of the vehicles that first arose in a November meeting, saying “I think it’s better that we say these are going to patrol, and not for SRO. The SROs are going to be getting the older vehicles.” She added that she was glad the vehicles were going to patrol.

Quick added that the vehicles “are hot commodities,” as the need for police vehicles is a problem across the country.

“Chase came to me and said ‘Hey, I have located a dealer, and I’ve got a good relationship with him and I think we’ll be able to get cars quicker through him than if we go other routes,’ so I think this is one of those cases where, if we do not get them now, we won’t be able to get them later.”

He also said that they got the vehicles a lot more quickly through the dealer Sons found, and that the dealer went ahead and installed the equipment for them. Sons added that the first vehicles they purchased got to them in five weeks after they were ordered.

Berry then gave Sons a shout out for his birthday, which was the day of the meeting, before the board approved the request unanimously. Again, Berry made the motion, and Alderman Derek Mann seconded.