This week Marshall County Sheriff Tom Chamberlin asked the County Commissioners for approval begin the purchasing process for the 2015 vehicle purchases.
In next year’s budget he has $100,000 to purchase three Ford Police Utility Inceptors for patrol and one for administration. Chamberlin said he is using the Indiana State Bid which brings in his bottom line cost to $103,860. Since he will be short the $3,860 in next year’s budget the Sheriff will go before the County Council next week seeking to appropriate the additional $3,860 from his extradition budget.
Sheriff Chamberlin will trade-in two Crown Victoria’s and a Chevy Uplander Van. The fourth vehicle, a Ford Fusion was re-assigned to the county building for use by various departments.
The sheriff would like to take delivery of the admin vehicle in January and the three for patrol in February. He said the vehicles wouldn’t be on the road until April or May since they will have to have police equipment installed and decals.
County Auditor Penny Lukenbill had some concern with the county’s cash flow. There are three pays in January and the Sheriff’s pension which now has a payment from the Certified Shares in January at $180,000. She said adding in the $103,000 for the vehicles may cause the fund to go extremely low. She suggested waiting to allow the Certified Shares distribution to catch up. She also suggested have the Sheriff’s Department administrator conduct an analysis to make sure the fund won’t be depleted.
Sheriff Chamberlin updated the commissioners on the performance of the Ford Interceptor. He said, “It’s been a good running vehicle. We had a good test last year with the winter and the vehicles performed better than what we expected.” He noted that the officer like their handling and say they perform well. The department hasn’t experienced the maintenance issues with the Interceptors as they have with other patrol vehicles.
