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EAST GRAND FORKS – A potential purchase of a new squad car for the East Grand Forks Police Department did not receive much enthusiasm from City Council members during their meeting on Tuesday.
The agenda item failed to gain a second motion, so no vote was held on the approximately $66,519 purchase of a 2026 Ford Police Interceptor SUV and related vehicle equipment. The new vehicle would have replaced a pickup already in the department’s fleet, which would have then been converted into a vehicle for the school resource officer.
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“I honestly feel that we need to start running these vehicles just a little bit longer,” council member Dale Helms said.
The pickup has approximately 84,000 miles on it.
Some council members were initially concerned about the purchase when it was first presented during the Jan. 13 council work session, saying they were unsure if switching around vehicles would save money for the police department and if the pickup needed to be replaced at all because of the mileage on it.
In agenda documents for Tuesday’s meeting, Police Chief Mike Hedlund included information about the effects of mileage versus engine hours, as he had brought up during the work session that needing to let squad cars idle constantly puts more strain on the vehicles than what mileage may show.
Even though the purchase wasn’t approved, Helms told Hedlund the issue could still come up at City Council at a later time.
“Bring it back later on; maybe we can get it in the budget for later on in the year,” he said.
In other news, the council:
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