A white 2020 Ford Police Interceptor hybrid utility vehicle will be delivered to the Hennessey Police Department in about a month.

“The battery is guaranteed for eight years,” Acting Police Chief Ed Cangiano told the Hennessey town board before members approved the $46,046 purchase Thursday night.

He said the purchase would also allow all officers to have an assigned vehicle.

The department’s Ford Explorer units are getting about 13 miles per gallon and the hybrid SUV will get 24 mpg, said Cangiano, who was hired as police chief at $52,500 later in the meeting.

He said the vehicle is in Little Rock, Ark., and the bid from Dana Safety Supply, Greensboro, N.C. is $1,000 cheaper than the state bid.

“If the battery goes down then the gas kicks in,” said Cangiano.

“How fast will it go?” asked Trustee Richard Simunek.

The new chief, who has been assistant chief since he joined the HPD in February 2019, answered with “137 miles per hour.”

Cangiano replaces Hank Weber who moved to Colorado.

Glocks for cops

“Every officer carries their own gun,” Cangiano said. “I don’t care for that. We need to own them and take care of any needed repairs. We’ve got several different calibers in use and it would lower our ammo costs if everyone carried the same caliber.”

He proposed, and the board approved, purchase of five Glock 34 Gen 5 guns from GT Distributors, Austin, Texas, for $3,375.15.

“They are the sole distributers in Oklahoma,” said Cangiano. He said he’d checked with H&H in Oklahoma City and an Enid store and both said he’d get a better price dealing direct.

The Glocks all have mounted flashlights, he said, and officers who prefer to carry their own weapon will have to buy their own ammunition and take care of their own repairs.

The new guns are only for full-time officers and reserves will continue to carry their own sidearms, said Cangiano.

“We’re using reserves on the weekends,” he said.

“We have enough rifles, but we need to look at new shotguns. We have some that need to be declared as surplus.”

Raises and hiring

Cangiano was hired as chief at $52,500 after a 15-minute closed session in which he was invited.

The board also increased the salary of Officer Matthew Bruner from $15 to $16.25 an hour.

Cangiano also recommended, and the board hired, David Lacy as a reserve police officer for $13 an hour. Lacy graduated from Oklahoma Reserve Academy in Hennessey in March.

Chief salary comparisons

Trustee Keith Meek said the former chief’s comment in his resignation letter that he needed to find a higher-salaried position elsewhere caused him to check to see what other towns with about the same population as Hennessey were paying their chiefs.

A spreadsheet he handed out shows that the former chief’s $50,000 pay, and new chief’s $52,500 salary, its higher than some and in line with other towns about the same size as Hennessey’s population of 2,131: Burns Flat, 2,047 population, $41,601; Hollis, 2,060, $45,476; Elgin, 2,156, $15,080; Spiro, 2,164, $34,258; Newkirk, 2,317, $38,688; Prague, 2,386, $56,650; Antlers, 2,453, $32,822; Fairview, 2,579, $53,000; Marietta, 2,626, $45,000; Stroud, 2,690, $54,517; Perkins, $2,831, $29,844; Wilburton, 2,843, $42,500; Drumright, 2,907, $49,623.

All members of the board were present at the October meeting: Mayor Bert Gritz, Vice Mayor Clif Vogt, Trustees Wes Hardin, Simunek and Meek.

Staff at the meeting were Administrator Tiffany Tillman, Clerk Kati Walters, Treasurer Teresa Weber and Cangiano.

A story on other action taken at the meeting will appear in the next edition.