Kane County Reporter

The Village of Montgomery has reorganized and refreshed its police vehicle fleet.

"As we purchase new vehicles and equipment for the various departments of the village of Montgomery, we have gone through a process of listing these items that are being retired typically on an auction site or trading in as part of a new vehicle or equipment purchase,”  Mark Wolf, director of Public Works, told the village board at its April 24 meeting.

The board was presented with two separate items dealing with some of the vehicles in the police fleet. The first was an ordinance approving many of the vehicles as surplus property. This approval would allow the department and village to sell them off to interested parties or in auctions to recoup some of the cost, and they would do so as they find and acquire replacement cars and equipment.

Wolf explained the vehicles they were replacing were different ages due to the pandemic. “There was a period of time during COVID where we weren't able to replace vehicles due to a lack of being able to find vehicles," he said. "So our squad cars are set for a shorter lifespan just because of basically the nature of what they perform day in and day out."

The department gets rid of police vehicles based on time and usage, not at specific mileage amounts, Wolf said. This is because the cars don’t always get a lot of miles as they sit and idle often, but they do get a high degree of wear and tear.

The second item relating to the police force vehicles was the purchase of eight new squad cars from Sutton Ford for a total amount of $357,488. The department and the board were excited to have replacement vehicles as they struggled to find replacements for a few years due to the microchip shortage.

 All of the new vehicles are Ford Explorers with four-wheel drive, and they will come with some upgrades already done, though the department will have to install some of their additional equipment as well, such as cameras and communication gear, Wolf said.