Fremont town board decides to buy new police cars
By Matt Caulder
Published in News on January 24, 2014 1:46 PM
FREMONT -- The Fremont Town Board of Aldermen on Tuesday approved a request to pull two police cruisers out of its fleet for auction at a later date at its meeting.
The two vehicles, a 2004 Ford Crown Victoria and a 2006 Chevrolet Impala, were replaced with two new 2014 Dodge Chargers partially paid for with grant money.
The Board approved the acceptance of the U.S. Department of Agriculture grant and loan for the purchase of the new vehicles last year.
The $20,200 grant required no local match and the rest of the funds were provided through a $35,900 loan.
That money -- $56,100 -- covered the purchase of the two vehicles as well as everything needed to set them up for use as patrol cars.
The police department sold a 2004 Chevrolet Impala in October 2012 and planned on rotating out the 2004 Crown Victoria but was able to move the 2006 Impala out of the fleet as well.
The town is sifting through its surplus materials from other departments and plans to hold an auction at a later date.
The loan will be paid back in installments of $7,952 a year over 5 years at an interest rate of 3.5 percent.
In addition to rotating out the cruisers, the Police Department requested the town donate a non-functioning 12-gauge shotgun to the Wayne County Sheriff's Office for training purposes.
Fremont Police Chief Paul Moats Jr. said that the sheriff's office wanted the shotgun to train young officers on loading and unloading an unfamiliar firearm. The Town Board unanimously voted to donate the shotgun.
The Fremont Police Department was also recognized during the meeting for having one of its new Chargers on display at the Governor's Highway Safety Symposium in Concord earlier this month.
In other business, the Town Board approved a bid for $16,784 from Barnhill Contracting Co. for the Lee Street paving project.
The paving will be paid for with Powell Bill money the town receives annually from the state for street repair.
The Board also approved a zoning request by Betty Zimmerman to reduce the 10-foot minimum building setback on her property to six feet to allow her to subdivide and sell her land for development.
The Town Board then approved a change in zoning request fees, raising regular zoning fees from $10 to $35 and increasing the rates on a zoning application from $25 to $75.
A new fee was introduced to deal with conditional use permits which require a public hearing. The new $250 fee will be charged to offset the cost of publishing public notices for meetings as is required by law.
Also the returned check fee was increased by $10 to $35.