BRADY FLANIGANStaff Writer

The Tullahoma Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved four agenda items authorizing the purchase of seven vehicles for various city departments, all through the state contract, totaling $353,445. The vote passed 5-0, with Aldermen Busch Thoma and Bobbie Wilson absent. 

The Tullahoma Police Department will receive two 2025 Ford Explorers, upfitted with emergency equipment, purchased from Lonnie Cobb Ford at a state contract price of $113,576. These vehicles will replace aging patrol units with high mileage and rising maintenance costs. The Public Works Department is set to add a 2024 Ford F-250 from Ford of Murfreesboro to its fleet, priced at $62,364. This vehicle will replace an older model to help reduce ongoing repair expenses. The Parks and Recreation Department will acquire three vehicles—a 2025 Ford Expedition, a 2025 Ford F-350 Crew Cab, and a 2025 Ford Maverick Crew Cab—at a combined cost of $131,161. The Planning Department will purchase a 2025 Ford F-150 from Ford of Murfreesboro for $46,344. 

Initially Alderman Kurt Glick expressed some reservations saying, “It seems that we have purchased a lot of vehicles lately. It seems like at almost every board meeting we’re purchasing several. I just think we need to take a breath a little bit and think about what all these purchases are for.”

City Finance Director Sue Wilson clarified the strategy by saying, “this looks like a lot because what we’re trying to do is finish off the ARP money, which all has to be allocated and committed by December 31st. We were originally using ARP money for contingency on TDEC stormwater plans, and then we pulled that back to a smaller plan.”

This explanation quickly smoothed out Glick’s anxieties. In short, ARP, or the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, was money allocated to municipalities across the United States by President Biden in effort to spur growth and mitigate the economic downturns coming out of the pandemic. Knowing the money wasn’t being pulled from the city’s pocket, and with Dec. 9 being the last Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting in 2024, this was the city’s last opportunity to allocate the funds before they vanished. Thus, the decision was made to allocate the funds towards modernizing Tullahoma’s fleet of vehicles with little controversy.