(From The Advocate)
An Oklahoma-based dealer of police vehicles has sued the village of Napoleonville over two police cars that the dealer had to repossess on Oct. 9 after the town used the cars and did not pay for them as promised.
The lawsuit highlights problems village officials have had in tapping a $151,628 federal stimulus grant awarded earlier this year through the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Criminal Justice.
The two-year reimbursement grant, which comes through the U.S. Department of Justice Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program, was meant to pay for two cars and two police officers, village and commission officials said.
Reimbursement grants pay communities back after the communities spend their funds. However, when the grant funding ends, at least in this case, the village would likely have to seek other funding.
Since the cars were repossessed, the town of St. Gabriel has donated two police cars, Napoleonville Police Chief Lionel Bell has said.
The village had continued funding concerns because grant money had not come in by Nov. 15. That led Bell to lay off the two officers hired under the grant who were supposed to patrol in the donated cars.
“If we had started getting our reimbursement, it would have been good,” Bell said.
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