ELYRIA — City officials have approved the purchase of 10 new police vehicles, moving forward with the decision under an emergency clause to avoid potential delays in acquiring the units.
The approved purchase includes eight 2025 Ford Explorer police interceptors and two 2026 Ford F-150 trucks. Officials said several of the vehicles are already available and could be lost if the city waited through the standard approval process.
“As I said, we’ve got eight that are sitting on the lot right now reserved for us. If we had to wait the 30 days, there’s a chance that they would get rid of those vehicles and then we’d go back into the build process, which can take up to a year long,” a department official said during the meeting.
The total cost for the vehicles is approximately $470,000, with about $372,000 allocated for the SUVs and roughly $98,000 for the trucks. Officials noted that the purchases were already accounted for in the department’s budget.
The decision comes as the police department works to replace older vehicles in its fleet.
“Right now, the oldest vehicles I have in my fleet are 2017s… all have upwards of 100,000 miles and are reaching the end of their life stage,” the official said.
City leaders said maintaining older vehicles has become increasingly expensive, making replacement a more cost-effective option.
“The maintenance costs… end up being so high that it’s actually cheaper for us to do it,” the official added.
In addition to replacing aging vehicles, officials said the inclusion of pickup trucks adds new capabilities for the department.
“There’s often times when we’re picking up bikes… and we’re trying to stuff them into an Explorer… they’re pretty compact. So having the pickup trucks adds utility,” the official said.
Officials also confirmed that older vehicles will be phased out as the new units are added, with some expected to be sold while they still retain value.
The emergency clause allows the city to move forward immediately with the purchase, rather than waiting for the standard approval period, in order to secure the available vehicles.
