Lewis sheriff plans to buy two cars for road patrol

LOWVILLE — The Lewis County Sheriff’s Department plans to purchase new road patrol cars by the summer to replace a pair of high-mileage ones.

“We’ve got to have them,” said first-year Sheriff Michael P. Carpinelli. “It’s an important piece of equipment.”

County legislators earlier in the week authorized the sheriff to buy the two cars using money from the county’s capital vehicle reserve fund.

Plans are to purchase a pair of Ford Taurus sedans featuring all-wheel drive and six-cylinder engines, Sheriff Carpinelli said.

“An all-wheel drive will be better in inclement weather,” he said.

The cost of the cars is expected to be less than $30,000 apiece, making the price comparable to Dodge products and cheaper than Chevrolet, the sheriff said.

“They’re a little smaller, but they’ll be great fuel-wise,” he said.

State contract costs still haven’t been determined for the year, so it may be possible to get the vehicles even more cheaply, Sheriff Carpinelli said.

Legislator John O. Boyd, D-New Bremen, chairman of the legislature’s Courts and Law Committee, said it is important to upgrade the department’s fleet now, given how many miles are logged on the vehicles each year.

The Sheriff’s Department has seven vehicles for the road patrol with two of them nearing the 200,000-mile mark and only two having fewer than 100,000 miles on the odometer, Sheriff Carpinelli said.

While legislative approval has been granted, the new cars, once ordered, likely won’t arrive until at least May or June.

Sheriff Carpinelli said, despite the tough fiscal times, he hopes to institute a policy that will remove cars from the road once their odometer readings reach 140,000 miles.