BY PEPPER FISHER

Port Angeles – The Port Angeles City Council approved the purchase of 3 new police patrol vehicles Tuesday to replace 3 current units because of wear and tear.

Police will take delivery of 3 2025 Ford Interceptor SUVs for the amount of $276,000. Two of the three vehicles will be standard patrol cars, while the third will be outfitted as a K-9 unit to support the new K-9 officer.

The cost for each patrol vehicle is $90,000 and the cost for K-9 Vehicle replacement is $96,000. Except for about $14,000, the funding for the new vehicles was already in the approved 2025 budget. The additional $14,000 was approved by council Tuesday as a budget amendment.

City Manager Nathan West told the council the City has been saving up for these new vehicles for years.

“I think it’s important to share as well that, no, we’re not looking for new, shiny vehicles, but instead, we actually plan ahead relative to all of our capital purchases, including vehicles. So, six years in advance, we have budgeted for each of these vehicles, and we save up along the way from the capital funds, and set those aside for each vehicle, saving up so that, at the end of the day, when a vehicle is ready to be replaced, the funding is there and available for it to be replaced.”

Councilmember Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin asked why, if they had saved up for the vehicles, they were asking for an additional $14,000 budget amendment to pay for them. He was told by Public Works Director Scott Curtin that part of it was due to inflation causing the price of the cars to go up, and part of it was for some extra work the City itself would be doing on the vehicles before sending them out on patrol.

Curtin told KONP the new patrol cars should be put into service by early summer.

(Ford Motor Company photo)