Mayor defends SUV purchase - 13abc.com Toledo (OH) News, Weather and Sports

Toledo's mayor and city council are at odds again over money.  This time the issue is a brand new Sport Utility Vehicle the administration just bought.

Council feels duped by the purchase and that the purchase of a 2011 GMC Terrain and a 2013 Chevy Tahoe may be illegal.  But Mayor Mike Bell says those purchases were approved by council.

The 2013 Chevy Tahoe was bought in August for $43,386 on a discount.

The 2011 GMC Terrain was purchased for $26,516, also on a discount. 

Normally, buying vehicles for city use wouldn't attract any attention, but these purchases were made with money from the street sweeping budget.  That's raising eyebrows on council.  

Councilman George Sarantou told 13abc reporter Bill Hormann, "I've got serious questions as to why do we need these vehicles. But out of what fund? The street fund.  That doesn't seem to make any sense."

The Bell administration says the Tahoe is being used to chauffeur potential investors around Toledo.  And the mayor rightly points out that council unanimously approved the purchase.

The two ordinances each specify the purchase of replacement vehicles for the Division of Streets, Bridges and Harbor.  But in neither ordinance was a luxury SUV listed among the vehicles to by purchased or replaced.

Councilman D. Michael Collins says the mayor misled council on the purchases.  He insists, unless those vehicles are used for street sweeping,  the purchase may be *illegal.*

Collins insists, "There's no way in hell that (Tahoe) is used for street sweeping."

The mayor thinks this latest attack by council is misdirected.  "I think this is a lot of hand-wringing and whining over something that's not an issue," he told 13abc.

The city has purchased SUVs for use by department heads for years.  The mayor can point to 20 big SUV's in use by city departments like fire and police today.  So he sees this issue as nothing more than a political attack.

The mayor told 13abc, "Where equipment goes, how it goes, how its used really is at the discretion of the administration."

Mayor Bell says the budget's balanced, taxes have not been raised, and the city is hiring more police and fire so council needs to worry about something important.

But council wants the law department to tell them if what the mayor did was legal.

Councilman Collins and Sarantou say the mayor's credibility may be on the line... and that *is important.*