The Mexico City Council last week approved several expenditures including the purchase of two new vehicles for the Public Safety Department (MPSD).

The council approved an expenditure of just over $72,000 to Landmark Dodge in the Kansas City area for two 2023 Dodge Durangos. The purchase is over the department’s budget of $70,000 for the vehicles. Chief Brice Mesko told council members it’s been difficult getting bids for police vehicles. Mesko said they reached out to six different dealers and only received one bid.

“Obviously, going $2,000 over budget is not optimal,” Mesko said. “The police vehicle market is still in flux with manufacturers not knowing what they’re going to have or when they’re going to have it.”

The two vehicles cost about $42,600 each and a trade-in value of $13,000 for two 2020 Durangos, is how the final price tag was reached. Each trade-in has more than 100,000 miles.

Mesko said the extra $2,000 the city is going over budget will be made up in another area.

 “Specifically the one that stands out is in our staffing,” Mesko said. “We’re making up money in that area.”

The city Public Work Department spent close to $19,000 on sewer line lift station upgrades. City Public Works Director Drew Williford told the council the city has $20,000 budgeted for the upgrades. Williford said the city will become much more efficient with the new technology. Williford said they have already deployed the technology in other areas.

“We can begin diagnosing some problems that may be intermittent or hard to find but because we have the system in place we’re able to trace that down or at least provide enough information that an electrician can better trace it down,” Williford said.

The council also made two donations. The Audrain County Historical Society will get $4,900 to help pay for activities like Walk Back in Time and the history camp.

The Mexico Area Chamber of Commerce will receive $13,000 to help with economic development and workforce stability. Executive Director Dana Keller was at the meeting to thank the council and explain how their investment is working. Specifically, she spoke about the Mexico app for cell phones that has more than 1,700 users.

“People that have downloaded it 5,000 times went to a business and opened it and looked for information and connected with them,” Keller said. “We feel really good about that.”

Keller also highlighted the work the Chamber has done with the city’s economic development department of Amy O’Brien and Rita Jackson.

“This year has been a blur,” Keller said. “It has been a pleasure to have the new energy that comes with Amy and Economic Development and that’s kept us busy on a lot of new tasks.”