During its regular meeting on Sept. 11, the City Council approved purchasing 14 cars for the Sandy Springs Police Department.
Police Chief Terry Sult told city staff that a single bidder, Franklin, N.C.-based Smoky Mountain Chevrolet was able to meet the city’s criteria. The estimated cost for the vehicles will be $371,588, a cost of $26,542 per patrol car.
Sult informed city staff the quoted price is for 2011 model Chevrolet Caprices instead of 2012.
“We are also in the process of changing the Caprices over to propane and there is no way of knowing ahead of time if the 2012 models will work with the 2011 propane systems, therefore we would like to stay with the 2011 models for one more year,” Sult said in his memo to the city.
Sult said the propane-fueled cars have a couple of advantages over standard police vehicles.
“The cost savings we’ve had was $1.39 per gallon for propane while gas was $3.60 per gallon,” Sult said. “(The fuel efficiency is) one less mile per gallon in the propane, but it burns cleaner and the officers like it because it’s a higher octane, a little more pep to the car.”
The council also named Mary Ellen McClanahan, Director of Entrepreneur & Small Business Development for the Georgia Department of Economic Development, to the city’s Economic Development Advisory Committee.