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On Tuesday, the LaGrange City Council signed off on a master lease agreement with Enterprise Fleet Management to handle the police department’s fleet of patrol vehicles.

The city approved a master leasing agreement that was initially discussed in September where the police department will lease vehicles through Enterprise Fleet Management.

Rather than the city purchasing police vehicles and running them until they are essentially worthless, the leasing agreement will allow the department to replace vehicles much earlier.

The police department currently cycles vehicles out about every 13 years. The new agreement would cut that to five years, putting the patrol cars on a 60-month lease.

When the council discussed the agreement in September, the department’s 112-vehicle fleet had 26 over 10 years old vehicles. Because the fleet is so old, maintenance on the vehicles average about $381 a month per vehicle.

The plan with Enterprise will allow the city to get new patrol cars every five years, which they in turn sell while the vehicles still have value rather than waiting 13 years or more when they are essentially worthless.

Police Chief Garrett Fiveash said the department will purchase 10 vehicles at least initially.

“We’re looking to do 10 vehicles to test the waters and see if it works out for us,” Fiveash said.

The program will be a good outlet to get rid of some of our older vehicles, he said.

City Attorney Jeff Todd said the agreement approved is just the overall agreement. The actual later purchases will be budgeted and can be done by the city manager, Todd said.

In other business, the council approved:

4 Authorizing the mayor and clerk to execute an amendment to the city’s agreement with Municipal Gas Authority of Georgia (MGAG) to reduce the costs in a prepaid gas agreement.

4Authorizing the mayor and clerk to execute an intergovernmental agreement with Troup County to pay for maintenance of public safety software and services. The county signed of on the agreement on Nov. 21.

4Adopting an updated personnel policy discussed during the council’s annual retreat.

4Abandoning a closed portion Madison Avenue off of Hogansville Rd and issuing a quitclaim deed to Danny Barentine who owns the property on both sides of the roadway.