Cape County Commission OKs vehicle purchases, receives storm damage update

Vehicle purchases drove the discussion at the Monday, March 17, meeting of the Cape Girardeau County Commission. Commissioners Clint Tracy, Charlie Herbst and Stephen Daume discussed purchasing five vehicles for different county offices.

The first batch of these will be used by the Parks Department, and the Building and Grounds office of the Public Works Department.

“Parks and Building and Grounds had vehicles in their budget, so we submitted a request for prices from the authorized dealers for the State of Missouri. Parks and Building and Grounds evaluated those and they’d like to purchase a Tahoe and two Chevrolet 2500 [Silverado] pickup trucks from Don Brown Chevrolet,” Herbst explained.

Acquiring the three vehicles from the St. Louis dealership will cost $143,130 from the Parks Department and Building and Grounds budgets. The commissioners approved the decision.

Sheriff Ruth Ann Dickerson also presented to the commissioners about her new vehicle findings. In the past, the Sheriff’s Office had purchased used vehicles from the state Highway Patrol.

“This year, we were reevaluating a little bit because the Highway Patrol is going to start keeping their vehicles longer, they’re going to be higher mileage, etc.,” she said.

Another county had ordered four Ford F-150 Police Responder trucks from the Lutesville Ford dealership in Marble Hill, but later backed out of the deal. The dealership let other counties know about the vehicles, and two had already been spoken for. Dickerson requested that the county approve of her office purchasing the remaining two trucks, which they did.

The two F-150s cost a combined $46,452, which Dickerson said was well within the Sheriff’s Office’s budget.

Storm report

Dickerson said her office did not receive many reports of damage in the aftermath of the storms that tore through the region Friday night, March 14, and Saturday morning, March 15. Her office was, however, without power for some time and remained on generator power until Monday morning.

The storms stretched into the weekend, generating tornadoes that caused widespread damage in the Midwest and South. At least a dozen people were killed in Missouri, with several counties north and west of Cape Girardeau County suffering significant damage.

County Assessor Bob Adams said many counties are still evaluating their needs following the storms, but that he has let them know his staff is available to help with any data collection that arises.