DAPHNE, Ala.— Council member August Palumbo made a motion to suspend the rules to consider the ordinance to appropriate funds for the purchase of five new police vehicles, but the motion was not carried by the entire council so the decision was put off until the next council meeting.

“I bring this up because as chairman of public safety I feel like I should,” Palumbo said. “We traditionally have passed our capital budget much later than our operating budget and we are already half way into this year. These police vehicles are needed. We are somewhat behind in replacing the fleet. These five new vehicles will certainly give us a boost in trying to keep up with that. Some of the vehicles we are going to replace have a large amount of miles.”

Police Capt. Danny Bell approached the council about the purchase at a work session recently to ensure the police department could get its order in on time.

The manufacturer of the vehicles the police department has selected has a limited production time for police vehicles and if the police department misses the time frame it reportedly will have to wait until next year to purchase the vehicles.

Palumbo also said the sooner the vehicles can make it to the streets, the better.

“It takes time to order the vehicles, get them in, paint the vehicles properly; it takes time to equip them with the lights and sirens and radios and so forth. I think we should go ahead and let the police department get started,” Palumbo said.

Council member John Lake opposed moving forward on the appropriation of funds for the vehicles.

“I don’t know where these vehicles are going to be purchased, but I have made it an issue that I think we should buy from Daphne businesses. I would like to have the two weeks to be able to digest and talk to some of the businesses and find out the other side. I want to see us buy from businesses in Daphne … when you buy from other communities outside, those businesses do not pay for Daphne football teams, or baseball teams or sports or anything,’ Lake said.

Palumbo said the dealership gave the police department a quote for the vehicles, but the quote was 5 percent over the state bid list, which means the city cannot legally purchase the vehicles from the local dealership. The price must be within three percent of the state bid list price.