Interim Melvindale Police Chief Dan Jones
By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
MELVINDALE – Interim Police Chief Dan Jones received the City Council’s approval May 19 to purchase a new K-9 vehicle using funding from the Financially Distressed Cities, Villages and Townships Grant Program.
He said the current K-9 vehicle is 15 years old and is mechanically falling apart.
“We have recently been putting a lot of work into it,” Jones said. “Through the Distressed Cities Grant, we were awarded $53,378 to purchase another K-9 vehicle.”
He said the new vehicle will cost $56,472, with the $3,094 balance coming from the department’s general fund.
Jones said the old vehicle would be sold at auction, and the money would be put into the forfeiture fund, which is what was used to purchase it originally.
The council approved the purchase and waived its seven-day right of rescission, to allow Jones to immediately initiate the vehicle purchase.
“With the car industry the way it is right now, we need to get this ordered as soon as possible, so we don’t have any problem getting the vehicle,” Mayor Wheeler Marsee said.