San Clemente : Police and City Workers Will Get New Vehicles

San Clemente police and city workers will soon be driving new vehicles after the City Council approved new auto purchases totaling more than $500,000.

According to Mike Sorg, acting public services director, purchase orders for six squad cars, two motorcycles, assorted pickup trucks, a Jeep, a sedan and a street sweeper were submitted to various dealers Thursday. Deliveries could begin as early as next week.

Prices range from $5,510 each for the two motorcycles to $71,832 for the street sweeper. The purchase of the six police cars amounts to $85,000.

Sorg said that the city will also benefit from six 1985 Chevrolet police cars that were left over after a recent purchase by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Already equipped for police work, the earlier-model cars represent “substantial” savings over buying 1986 models, he said. “A new car is a new car as far as we are concerned,” Sorg said. “We don’t care what year it was made.”

Because the cars are sitting in the dealer’s showroom, deliveries can take place almost immediately, enabling San Clemente to begin phasing out some of its aging, 1980-vintage squad cars, which Sorg said “are getting up in the miles.”

As soon as the replacement vehicles arrive, the older cars and trucks will be either transferred to other city departments or will be stripped of essential gear and consigned to an auctioneer for sale to the public.