Council agreed to five new EPD vehicles by year's end

The Eunice Police Department landed three new police vehicles, with two more by the end of the calendar year, as the department made a request for the city to purchase new cruisers at Tuesday night City Council meeting.
According to an inventory report of police vehicles in use currently, 16 are reported as having more than 100,000 miles and one has more than 200,000 miles. The Eunice Police Department declared one vehicle surplus and showed an inventory of 39 total police vehicles.
Deputy Chief Varden Guillory said at the meeting that the department was requesting at least four new vehicles and one used vehicle. He said afterward the department received more than it expected as a result of Tuesday’s meeting.
“It’s kind of like we’re in dire need,” said Guillory following the meeting. “They agreed to give us three now and two or more later. It’s like we’re kind of in a bind right now for vehicles and I guess that we’ve got to take what they give us.”
Ward 1 Alderman Roland Miller championed the department’s cause when he moved to purchase five new cars this fiscal year (which ends June 30) from the capital outlay budget and five in next fiscal year’s capital outlay budget. Mayor Claud “‘Rusty” Moody, Jr. suggested that the city purchase two vehicles now and then “reassess” when the city draws up the city’s budget for next year.
Miller’s motion was amended to split the difference, by Alderman-At-Large Jack Burson, who suggested three cars now and two by the end of the calendar year. Miller opposed but the motion passed.
The vehicles, purchased under state contract, will cost 20,926.50 each. The current capital outlay budget has $45,000 earmarked for department equipment. Through Feb. 17, $12,430 of that had been spent. The total capital outlay budget is $4.4 million.
“My take on it is that we can’t just continue to survive with police vehicles that don’t work,” said Miller following the meeting. “We cannot protect the citizens of the city of Eunice when we can’t get to them for lack of operational vehicles. We could actually use 10 vehicles, we haven’t done but two in three years.”
Miller further suggested that the city spend an extra $200 to purchase the vehicles “immediately” from John R. Young, a local automotive dealer as opposed to a Baton Rouge dealership.
Out of five vehicles dubbed “surplus” by the police, two of them are without working engines. According to the police report, a total of 17 vehicles at the Eunice Police Department have surpassed 80,000 miles. While most departments replace their vehicles after 80,000 miles, the Eunice police have yet to have a new car since 2011.
Guillory said that the department has been purchasing four to five new fleet vehicles every year for approximately the past 15 years but haven’t requested any new vehicles since 2011.
Guillory said at last week’s agenda meeting that the purchase of the new police cruisers normally comes from the capital outlay fund. Mayor Moody asked if the police could utilize money claimed by the department during drug seizures and investigations for the funding of police cars.
Miller said that four months ago one Eunice police vehicle reportedly lost a tire while travelling on Laurel Avenue. Miller called some of the fleet of police vehicles “junk cars.” He stated that the city of Eunice resorted to consider buying police vehicles from surplus yards in Baton Rouge, cars that other police departments have already retired.
During the discussion of the motion before the council, Miller also criticized members of the council and the mayor for allegedly removing two police cars from the city’s itemized budget from last year. When things got heated between councilman Miller and Mayor Moody, Burson then spoke on the matter.
“I’m a great believer that good government is in the middle of the road,” said Burson. “I move that we amend the motion to include three vehicles now and two in the budget that we adopt in July. That breaks it up a little bit. The money’s there in the capital outlay fund and we get the cars by year’s end.”
The city ordered the three Impalas Wednesday through the Young dealership, Guillory said.