By Jim Bloch
Policing, public works projects, park maintenance and protecting the city against fire do not come without a big price tag.
Just ask the city of Port Huron.
At its regular meeting Aug. 10, the city council unanimously approved the purchase of eight vehicles for $418,560. That’s an average of $52,320 per vehicle.
The fire department gets a 2027 Ford F-250 4×4 crew cab pickup truck for $50,978.
The police department gets three 2027 Dodge Durango AWD Pursuit SUVs for $137,019.
The department of public works receives two 2027 Ford F-250 4×2 Styleside pickup trucks for $83,882.
The utilities division gets a 2027 GMC Savana 2500 standard length cargo van for $41,673.
The parks division receives a 2027 Ford F-450 4×4 chassis cab pickup truck for $57,638 and a Crysteel 9′ select dump body, hoist, tarp and hydraulic system for $47,370.
“We use a program called MiDEAL, a cooperative purchasing program in which the state bids out commonly used vehicles and equipment that municipalities can purchase,” said City Manager James Freed, as heard on the recording of the meeting posted on YouTube. “It’s a huge timesaver to use the MiDEAL program. We get highly competitive pricing most of the time. Tonight, we had about $425,000 in vehicle purchases. To me, that’s a lot of money to leave our community to go purchase vehicles elsewhere. Dealerships here pay property taxes and pay their employees and contribute to our local economy.”
For example, Northgate Ford paid $34,665 in property taxes last year.
Freed took the MiDEAL bids to local dealerships and asked them to match or beat the state quotes.
“If they can match the MiDEAL pricing, we should keep (our purchases) local,” said Freed.
Northgate Ford beat the state bids by two percent per vehicle.
“Same with Moran,” said Freed, although Moran is technically in Fort Gratiot Township.
Overall, the tactic kept more than $300,000 in the local economy, Freed said.
Altogether, the local dealers saved the city $8,120.
Moran underbid MiDEAL by $3,210 on the three police cars.
Northgate underbid MiDEAL by $4,910 on the four pickup trucks.
The city had to go with the MiDEAL bid on the cargo van.
Council member Barb Payton thanked Freed for his initiative.
“So, is this going to be our (practice) going forward?” asked Mayor Anita Ashford.
Yes, said Freed.
The mayor noted that there had been many times in the past when this approach had been discussed but not adopted.
The new vehicles replace older ones or in the case of PHPD, a cruiser that was totaled in an accident; the two other police cars have more than 100,000 miles on them.
The older vehicles “will be evaluated to determine if there is a cost-effective secondary use for them,” said Freed in his written report to the mayor and the council. “If it is determined that the costs outweigh the benefits then they will be sold at auction on the Repocast website.”
The vote was 7-0 to approve the purchases.
Jim Bloch is a freelance writer based in St. Clair, Michigan. Contact him at bloch.jim@gmail.com.
