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The Dewey City Council weighs the lease purchasing of vehicles to revamp the Dewey Police Department's (DPD) fleet.

City Manager Kevin Trease says he had been in talks with DPD Chief Mike Shea about getting new vehicles for several months, but they would always run into supply issues. Trease says the shortage has changed slightly as Chief Shea has stumbled upon vehicles that are available. He asked the Council to consider lease purchasing 10 vehicles.

The vehicles are expected to cost $45,000 a piece. Trease says they are looking at spending $450,000. He agrees with Chief Shea in that they need to replace the fleet as soon as possible because the availability in the future is so unknown.

Trease says he would like to see an eight or 10 year lease for the 10 vehicles that way they are paying for one-plus every year in that time period. He says this would be the most efficient way to do handle this process.

The DPD has 12 vehicles in its fleet currently. Chief Shea says all but two of the vehicles are well over 200,000 miles. Shea says most of their vehicles are hand-me-downs. He says two Crown Vics were purchased in 2010 but they were "hot seated," meaning they were used for all three of the DPD's shifts. Getting parts makes sticking with the older vehicles difficult, too. 

The lease purchasing for 10 new police vehicles would be approved unanimously by the Dewey City Council on Monday night. The City of Dewey will now place the order and look for quotes from different lending agents.

Trease says they are looking for a mixture of Dodge trucks and Durango's. He says they will keep two of the DPD's Explorers. Payments for the vehicles will be dealt with in next year's budget.

The Dewey City Council will be presented with a vendor in a future meeting once more information is gathered.