By John Koski
SLN Staff
The Elkhorn Common Council voted Monday to replace an unmarked 2003 Crown Victoria squad car with 82,547 miles on its odometer. The department’s two detectives are the primary users of the vehicle.
Police Chief Joel Christensen noted that during a preventive maintenance inspection of the vehicle by Crosby Automotive, a minimum of $1,741 in repairs were recommended, including replacing ball joints, steering rack, alternator and brake pads and rotors.
“Because the vehicle has a Kelly Blue Book value of about $2,500,” Christensen said, “my recommendation is to replace the car this year rather than waiting until it is scheduled to be replaced in 2014.”
He noted that the department is down one vehicle because Crosby Automotive recommended the squad be taken out of service. As a result, the detectives are currently using the chief’s unmarked squad car.
A new replacement vehicle is estimated to cost about $19,780 with an additional $5,000 for emergency communications and lighting equipment.
Other business
• The council authorized $390,000 to Baxter & Woodman Consulting Engineers for the design, permitting and bidding of a new water treatment facility and related improvements. Doug Snyder, senior engineer with the company, said that it is anticipated that the facility could be online by the end of 2015.
• Authorized Teska Associates Inc. to review and make recommendations for revising portions of the city’s building code, with a cost not to exceed $25,000. The code has not been reviewed or revised for approximately 10 years.
• Authorized an expenditure of $39,056 to Alpha Services Terra Services for remediation of the former industrial site the city acquired in 2012. The site is located at 201 W. Centralia St. and is the former location of Oak Industries.
• The council granted a temporary Class B retailer’s license to St. Patrick School for the school’s March 9 ShamRockin’ event.
• The council approved a bartender operator’s license for Heather A. Esch.
