By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – Some Alabaster police officers soon will be rolling in new rides after the Alabaster City Council approved funding for several new Chevrolet Tahoe police vehicles during a Feb. 17 meeting.

The City Council voted to approve $100,000, which was already included in the fiscal year 2014 budget, to help purchase and outfit eight patrol Tahoes, a Ford F-150 for the department’s traffic homicide unit and a Tahoe to serve as the police chief’s vehicle.

During a recent work session, City Manager George Henry said the financing rate Alabaster received on the vehicles will keep the cost of financing the 10 vehicles less than $100,000 per year for the next few years.

During a Feb. 18 interview, Alabaster Police Chief Curtis Rigney said the new vehicles are already in the state, and will be outfitted with the required equipment – such as light bars and police graphics – over the next few weeks, and will enter service soon after that.

“We hope we will be able to put them in service in the next few weeks,” Rigney said. “We are looking forward to having those new vehicles.”

Rigney said the department considered several options when choosing new vehicles to replace its Ford Crown Victoria patrol cars, which are no longer being manufactured.

The city is looking to gradually replace its entire police fleet with Tahoes as Crown Victorias are taken out of service.

Once the new Tahoes are placed in service, Alabaster will mirror other area law enforcement agencies using the sport utility vehicles, such as Hoover, Helena and the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office.