Mena in hot pursuit of Chargers

By Ethan Nahté

It’s a fast and furious race to purchase pursuit vehicles. Believe it or not, vehicles are becoming so high in demand it warranted a special city council meeting. The Mena City Council met at 8:30 Thursday morning for a special city council meeting to conduct new business.

The council discussed a proposal regarding an exceptional situation to waive the competitive bidding generally required for purchasing equipment or property such as new vehicles for the Mena Police Department (MPD).

Mayor Seth Smith said, “We had two Durangos in this year’s budget. We ordered them in November 2021. We were notified last month that those orders had been canceled. We’ve been looking for police vehicles all over. It’s a Chrysler deal due to the pandemic and work shortages.”

Chrysler is one of the brands owned by Stellantis North America. Stellantis also markets Dodge, Jeep and Ram. The company announced in September 2021 that Durango SUV production was ending. The company is in the process of transitioning from fossil-fuels to electric, including the Dodge Durango Plug-in Hybrid later this year, and an all-electric Durango in 2024.

“We found two Chargers in College Station, Texas. They are police Chargers, outfitted for police.” Smith said.

There were 38 Chargers left on the lot the morning of March 16, and there were only seven left at the end of the same day, prompting the special meeting.

The MPD does not have a shortage of vehicles. The city attempts to purchase two new vehicles each year and rotate out the older vehicles.

“We like to keep a fresh fleet and not have an exorbitant amount of money in the police vehicles for maintenance.

The council passed Ordinance No. 2352-22 to purchase the two 2021 Dodge Charger pursuit vehicles.

They then considered a proposal to waive the competitive bidding to perform necessary upgrades to both vehicles once purchased, using Dana Safety Supply Inc., in Little Rock, to complete the upgrades.

“Dana will outfit them with things like radios, sirens, lights, and cages to get them ready for service.”

The council passed the proposal, creating Ordinance No. 2353-22.

The city will actually save almost $9,000 on what they had originally approved in 2021. They had budgeted $86,000 for the Durangos. The Chargers, including the upgrades, will come to a total of $77, 130.76.

The meeting adjourned and the mayor left the room to call Mena Chief of Police Tommy Stueart, who then called the dealership in the College Station area.

In a matter of minutes, the chief returned Smith’s call, notifying him that two of the Chargers were officially being held for Mena.

The city will send people to pick up the vehicles and drive them to Dana.

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