Port Richey Council approves purchase and outfitting of six police vehicles

The Port Richey City Council voted to approve purchase and outfitting contracts for six police vehicles on a combined set of agenda items, moving three FY24 units and three FY25 units into the city's fleet. City Manager Andrew Butterfield introduced the request and Police Chief (Chief Vergara) told the council the vehicles are already built and can be delivered quickly once purchase orders are issued. “These cars are actually built already. They're on the logs ready to go,” the chief said. Council members and staff said the purchases accelerate replacement of aging units and avoid a clustering of replacements in a single future year. The chief said the department has kept a steady rotation of three replacements a year since 2020 to avoid wearing out the entire fleet at once. Council and staff agreed that buying the FY24 units now and not budgeting duplicates next year effectively advances next year's replacements while keeping the long-term replacement cadence. The council approved separate items to pay for light-and-equipment outfitting and vehicle radios. The radios were priced at roughly $3,300 each and outfitting vendors offered a reduced or no-cost install for some lighting if the vendor could use completed vehicles as local demos. During discussion council members also asked staff to research electric patrol vehicles and related charging infrastructure for future planning. Several council members and the chief noted operational limits for EVs in standard patrol use, citing charging, saltwater exposure and continuous-power draws during incidents; the council asked staff to report back with documentation from other local agencies that have tried electric or hybrid patrol cars. The votes to approve the purchases and related outfitting and radio procurements passed with motions and seconds on each item.