Hennessey town trustees unanimously approved the purchase of a 2025 white Chevrolet Tahoe for the police department during their April 8 meeting at Town Hall.

The town is using the state bidding process with Vance Auto Group in Guthrie and total purchase cost is $67,429.87 and includes police “upfitting” (lights, sirens, etc.).

The board approved the purchase after written and verbal reports from Police Chief Christian Solis about the pros and cons between a Tahoe vs. a Ford Explorer.

The new purchase will bring the town’s patrol car count to nine: two Tahoes and seven Ford Explorers.

“I’m not a car guy,” the police chief told trustees. “I know it has an engine, I know it takes oil and gas. But I do sort of understand money.

“So there is a price difference and I just want to be transparent about that.”

Pros and Cons

“What it boils down to is: with the Tahoe, obviously we get a little bit bigger of an engine size, 5.3 liter V8 engine,” Solis said. “Of course, it’ll take a little more gas…costs a little bit more to upfit and that’s $583.

“The unit price is where it goes up ($54,837 for the Chevrolet and $49,350 for the Ford.),” he said. “That’s about $5,500 more to go with the Tahoe over the Explorer. But, they are two different classes of vehicles. Right? You know, we’ve got a smaller SUV and then we’ve got a full size.”

His pro Tahoe list included a bigger engine, towing capability, more room inside, better built motor (according to mechanics he’d talked with), and it’s a 4x4. Cons were gas mileage not as good, higher purchase cost, police upfitting is higher.

Explorer pros were: better gas mileage, cheaper vehicle, cheaper to upfit and it would match current units. Cons listed were: smaller engine, two-wheel drive, less room in interior.

Trustee David Jones asked Solis which he preferred.

The chief said the Tahoe.

“What about your troops? What do you think they would want?” Jones asked.

“They’d want a Tahoe,” Solis said. “The Explorers have served us pretty well,” the chief said. “They’re a little bit more budget-friendly and I want to be conscious about how I’m spending the taxpayers’ money,” he said before the board voted.

8 Other Patrol Cars

Solis said he was asked before that meeting to get “mileage and engine hours” on the department’s existing eight vehicles and included that information in his board presentation:

• One 2023 Chevrolet Tahoe:18,487 mileage and 1,588.5 engine hours.

• Seven Ford Explorers: 2021 model, 53,640 miles and 1,462 engine hours; 2019 model, 68,020 and 10,995; 2018 model, 70,708 and 8,652; 2017 model 105,337 and 12,335; 2016 model, 97,099 and 13,874; 2015 model, 97,701 and 13,874; and 2013 model, 70,821 and 9,356.

“I wonder why we’re not repairing instead of replacing vehicles,” said Trustee Bert Gritz. He also commented that “the engine hours were more telling than the mileage.”

Rowen had said earlier in the meeting during her monthly board report that Jones had made an open record request for information: “He got the maintenance,” she said.

“He went over the maintenance and stuff with the police cars, the gas, the fuel and so I do want to thank Christian and the staff because they spent like 24 working hours trying to get all of that stuff together for him so he can make educated decisions.”

Jones later confirmed with the KT&FP via email that he’d “asked for mileage data, maintenance history and fuel consumption data on the PD vehicles and that information was provided.”

He added: “I asked to see the operator’s manual for the 2023 black Chevy Tahoe later and this was provided also.”

Five PD Officers (Including New Hire)

Jones asked the chief how many full-time officers are on the force and he said five, including himself.

That also includes John Day,whoRowenannounced as a new hire during her administrator report.

Day has an associate’s degree in criminal justice. He will begin CLEET certifi cation classes in Enid soon, she said.

“So we would typically, if I understand correctly, need six cars?” Jones asked.

“At minimum, yes,” said the chief. “We prefer to have seven because of special events. We need the extra cars to block roadways and for extra patrol and stuff like that.”

“Also,” said Rowen, “if you have to put one in the shop, you have that extra one.”

“So have you considered, instead of running them until they die and scrapping them, running them up to 75,000 to 80,000 miles and then doing a trade-in?” asked Jack Quirk from the audience. “I mean, do they have any value if they’re not trade-ins?”

“When we surplussed the last ones and sold them in the Purple Wave auction, we got a lot more profit,” Rowen said.

New HPD Cars Every Year?

Rowen told Hennessey trustees last month that they are on schedule to purchase a new police department vehicle each year.

Gritz suggested every other year during this month’s meeting.

The board couldn’t make that decision official because it wasn’t on the agenda for action, but other members appeared to agree with that change.

Why Not In-County?

From the audience Kingfi sher County Commissioner Mike Sparks (there on another matter) said he was surprised the police chief didn’t check with Carter Chevrolet for a quote on the new police car to keep the taxpayers’ money in Kingfi sher County?

“I contacted Carter Chevrolet,” Chief Solis said. “The really nice lady who does all the fleet sales said she did not have an ETA on the Tahoe. She was the first person I called because I guess we’ve done quite a lot of business with them… I had to call somebody in order to get a number and was told Vance might have them.”

At the Meeting

All trustees were present: Mayor Harold Shaw, Gritz, Jones and Randy Bohnstedt. Newly-elected board member John Peach was not at the meeting, but he, Shaw and Jones, who were re-elected, will be sworn in later.

Other elected town offi cers at the meeting were Treasurer Shelley Burch (also Town Hall office manager) and Clerk Kelley Vaverka.

In addition to Rowen and Solis, other town staff present were Public Works Director Alyssa Kubat and Town Attorney Jared Harrison.