Winston-Salem City Council approves purchase of new gas-powered police cars, despite concerns

The Winston-Salem City Council weighed the environmental impacts of police vehicles at a meeting Monday night. Members ultimately approved the purchase of 45 new gas-powered cars, despite concerns raised by two councilmembers. 

Councilmember Kevin Mundy told the council he didn’t think the purchase was in line with the city’s climate goals, and that his constituents felt similarly. 

“We need to be kind of setting the bar for the rest of the community," said Mundy. "And right now, it feels like we're talking the talk, but we're not walking the walk.”

He asked the council to table the measure until city staffers could come up with a plan that included more hybrid vehicles. That idea was quickly shot down though, with only Councilmember John Larson siding with him. 

Several other members said they didn’t want to delay because supply chain issues have made it difficult to find those kinds of specialized vehicles. 

That concern was echoed by Assistant City Manager Johnnie Taylor. He also noted that the police department uses propane fuel, which emits fewer greenhouse gasses. 

"We also have biodiesel that we're actually running in about 492 vehicles right now," said Taylor. "We have 19 hybrid vehicles in our medium size fleet. We've got two electric vehicles. We've got two charging stations and a rolling stock of 1,478 vehicles. Thirty-six percent of them are using alternative fuels. So are we where we want to be? No. Are we making an effort? Yes."

Council voted 7-1 to buy the new Ford Interceptors at a cost of about $1.6 million, with just Mundy voting against the measure.