Rapid City committee approves purchase of five police vehicles and separate ammunition purchase

The Rapid City Legal and Finance Committee on March 12 recommended city council approval for the Rapid City Police Department to purchase five patrol vehicles for $257,755 and separately approved a training ammunition purchase.

The committee approved the vehicle purchase as part of Consent Item 13 and then voted to treat the ammunition request as a separate item, labeled 13a, after staff said the ammunition request had been added to the vehicle paperwork in error.

Police Chief (Rapid City Police Department) told the committee the fleet purchase was a budgeted, routine replacement. “This is an item that we budget for every year,” the chief said. He explained patrol vehicles are heavily used and often reach a point—around 20,000 miles—when they become “unsafe for emergency vehicle operation” and costly to maintain. He said a typical patrol car lasts about three years before retirement and that retired units are evaluated for other city uses or disposal.

Councilman Kevin Maher made the motion to approve the five-vehicle purchase; a second was offered by Councilmember Biederdorff. The committee voted unanimously in favor. The vehicle purchase will go to the full council with a committee recommendation to approve.

Committee members then addressed an ammunition purchase that had been included by paperwork error with the vehicle request. The chief said the ammunition is for training—“our special response team and our officers require a lot of training”—and that the line item is a recurring annual budget item. Committee members moved to separate that request as Item 13a; the motion by Councilmember Biederdorff and second by Councilmember Roseland passed unanimously.

Votes at the committee were recorded as unanimous “Aye” on both the vehicle purchase and the separate ammunition item; the committee advanced both recommendations to the Monday council meeting.

The vehicle purchase will be made using state contract number 17619 and the total price listed in the agenda packet is $257,755. The ammunition request was described as recurring annual training ammunition; the agenda did not specify an exact dollar amount for the ammo in the discussion presented to the committee.

The meeting proceeded without public comment on consent items. The committee adjourned after completing the agenda.