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Why the City of Galesburg Needs to Purchase New Squad Car
Attention is being given to the Galesburg City Council choosing to reject the low bid for the purchase of a new police department squad car, but aldermen also questioned why the car needed to be purchased to begin with.

Aldermen Monday night voted to reject the $22,000 low bid for a new squad car that was submitted by a Springfield dealer, potentially in favor of a $500 higher bid from a local dealer, even though state statute states preference can't technically be given to a local bidder solely on the basis that they are local.

But as for why a squad car needed to be purchased -- City Manager Dane Bragg says it's to replace a squad car allegedly wrecked by an officer back in October.

Bragg says the purchase will be paid for with money from the city's Risk Management fund, because the crash apparently wasn't intentional and the cost can't be taken out of the officer's pocket.

"Under Illinois law, the use of the vehicle is at our will, basically, in the employment of the employee," Bragg said. "If they were involved in a reckless or illegal behavior, or some type of felony behavior, then we would be able to seek (restitution). But in this case, the employee was not."

It's not clear what exactly happened to get the squad car into a wreck. Aldermen were also concerned about what the crash would do to the city's risk management plan in the future.

Aldermen will take another look at the squad car bids in two weeks.
01 06 10 by Newsroom
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