In 30 seconds
- Council voted 5-0 (Monica Davis absent) to buy three new police vehicles now, with two more to be purchased later "as funds permit."
- Financing is through Commercial Capital Company: the three-vehicle option costs $210,000 over 60 months (about $4,160/month); a five-vehicle option at $360,000 was considered but set aside for now.
- Mayor Whitfield and Treasurer Derrick Turner (relayed) said the city's cash flow can cover the payment without hurting operations; Councilman Etherly urged caution, saying a fund balance is a bank balance and the finances deserve a deeper look given five years of committed debt.
- The council chose new vehicles over used for now; the city will keep exploring used options (a Missouri State Patrol list was expected the next day) for the remaining two.
- This resolves the deferral from the August 18 meeting; expect roughly two weeks to a month for pickup, paperwork, and upfitting before the three vehicles are on the street.
Recap
Roll Call & Attendance
This was a special called meeting with one agenda item: financing terms for new police vehicles, continued from the August 18 and August 19 meetings . Roll call showed five members present — Dr. Kyle Miller, Maxine Miller, Don Etherly, Adrian Messina, and Joe St. Columbia — with Monica Davis absent .
Quotes Reported Back
Mayor Whitfield reported back on the council's tasking: the three-vehicle quote came in a little cheaper than the initial upfitting estimate , and no used options had turned up yet besides a Missouri State Patrol list expected the next day . Chief Sanders said the vendor had three vehicles on the lot that day, down from seven the day before . The purchase is financed through Commercial Capital Company .
Fiscal Basis
Mayor Whitfield pointed to his general-fund report from the day before: the city is currently spending less than it takes in , with revenue outpacing spending by about ,000 since January, moving the general fund from negative to positive . He relayed that Treasurer Derrick Turner assessed the city's cash flow as enough to make the payment without hurting operations . Councilman Etherly urged caution: a fund balance is a bank balance, and the financial report deserves a deeper dive given five years of committed debt .
The Motion & Vote
Councilman St. Columbia asked about the vehicles' warranty; Chief Sanders said they carry a 5-year, 100,000-mile warranty . St. Columbia's motion, first for five vehicles , was amended to three vehicles now , with the city continuing to explore used options for two more . The motion passed 5-0 with Davis absent , resolving the deferral from the August 18 meeting when the mayor sent the purchase to a special called meeting .
Delivery Timeline & Next Steps
Council approved the option for three vehicles now , with two more purchased later "as funds permit" . Chief Sanders said the vehicles still need pickup, paperwork, and upfitting before hitting the street, and estimated roughly two weeks to a month for that process .
The documents
Everything the council had in front of it, summarized. Page stamps open that page in the document desk.
August 20, 2026 City Council Meeting Agenda
One-item special-meeting agenda: call to order, prayer and pledge, roll call, then new business limited to review of financing terms for new police vehicles . No other business is listed; the meeting exists to act on the police-vehicle financing question carried over from the 8/18 and 8/19 meetings.
| New business items on agenda | 1 (police vehicle financing) |
Text document — see the agenda link below.
Commercial Capital Company Email Quote — 3 Police Vehicles
Email from William Tilson, Sales Executive at Commercial Capital Company, to the city clerk, sent 8/20/2026 at 3:58 PM, subject "Re: Police Vehicles" . It gives an estimate for financing three police vehicles: $210,000.00 total, over a 60-month term, at about $4,160 per month . This works out to roughly $70,000 per vehicle. Prior correspondence in the thread shows the clerk had asked Tilson to follow up after a committee review on 8/13-8/14 .
| Vehicles quoted | 3 | |
| Total estimate | $210,000.00 | |
| Term | 60 months | |
| Estimated monthly payment | $4,160/mo | |
| Approx. cost per vehicle | ~$70,000 |
Commercial Capital Company Formal Proposal — 5 Police Vehicles
Formal financing proposal from Commercial Capital Company, L.L.C., dated 6/17/2026, naming the City of Helena-West Helena as obligor for five new police cars under a finance/ownership contract with no residual value . Terms: $360,000.00 acquisition cost, $0 down payment, five-year term, 6.9600% fixed interest rate, and a monthly payment of $7,121.64 in arrears, with the first payment due one month from close . The deal must be designated tax-exempt under Section 103 of the Internal Revenue Code, is capped by the city's $10,000,000 tax-exempt debt limit for the calendar year, and had to be fully funded on or before 8/24/2026 or the proposal could be adjusted or withdrawn . This is the five-vehicle option the council did not adopt; it opted instead for the smaller three-vehicle quote.
| Vehicles proposed | 5 | |
| Acquisition cost / principal balance | $360,000.00 | |
| Down payment | $0.00 | |
| Term | 5 years | |
| Fixed interest rate | 6.9600% | |
| Monthly payment | $7,121.64 | |
| Funding deadline | 8/24/2026 |
Treasurer's Report — For the Month Ended July 31, 2026
Monthly financial report prepared and certified by City Treasurer Derrick Turner, covering the General Fund, Street Fund, Landfill Fund, and several smaller restricted funds . The General Fund balance sheet lists total current liabilities of $2,470,265.31, dominated by IRS 941 payroll tax liability of $1,653,601.26 and LOPFI (police/fire pension) liability of $693,710.10; the City HWH Police Dept Equipment cash account holds $4,101.17 . The year-to-date Statement of Revenue and Expenditures shows an operating deficit of about $1.59 million ($1,594,845.53) covered by about $1.98 million ($1,978,313.56) in other financing sources such as transfers, producing a year-to-date net change in fund balance of $361,378.67 . The fund began the year at a negative $186,783.94 and ended July 2026 at a positive $174,594.73 .
| Beginning fund balance (year start) | -$186,783.94 | |
| Year-to-date net change in fund balance | $361,378.67 | |
| Ending fund balance (July 2026) | $174,594.73 | |
| Year-to-date operating deficit (revenue less expenditures) | -$1,594,845.53 (~$1.59M) | |
| Year-to-date other financing sources | $1,978,313.56 (~$1.98M) | |
| Total current liabilities | $2,470,265.31 | |
| IRS 941 payroll tax liability | $1,653,601.26 | |
| LOPFI liability | $693,710.10 | |
| Police equipment cash account balance | $4,101.17 |
Transcript
Auto-generated from the meeting video's captions and lightly cleaned for readability — wording is kept as spoken, not corrected, except that caption-garbled names of city officials are normalized against the roster. Speaker names follow the attribution work in our governance record; a ° marks a name our reviewers have not yet verified. Every timestamp plays the city's video from that moment. Watch the full meeting ↗
0:04[music]
1:41[laughter]
1:50
Unidentified Recording in progress.
1:55
All present Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
2:26
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Good evening, everyone. All right. We will get started. Madam Clerk, will you call the roll, please?
2:31
Roll call Roll call (attendance) — present: Maxine Miller, Dr. Kyle Miller, Adrian Messina, Joe St. Columbia, Don Etherly. Absent: Monica Davis.
2:40
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Perfect. So, thank you all. Good after a good evening/afternoon. We do have a quorum today, so we can get right into the only business item for this for this meeting, which is a continued review of financial or financing terms for the new police vehicles. In front of you, I want to just explain what you have. And if you're a viewer at home, this is also found in the agenda folder that you will see. You have the same quote or proposal from yesterday and Tuesday's meeting, which is for five police vehicles, and what those financing terms are. And then also placed in front of you today, as we discussed yesterday, is a proposal for three police vehicles, and what those terms would be. That is what you see in the email format. So, while you have those in front of you, I will I will yield the floor to the chief again to explain what he's what the has developed in the last 24 hours, and we can continue discussion around what we think is the best fit. So, I yield to you, Chief.
3:38
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders So, I just did what you all asked me. You asked me to go get the quotes for the three new vehicles. That's what I did. Um it turned out to be a little bit cheaper than the initial quote that I had on the upfitting. I continue to search for used vehicles and again, I really didn't find anything that besides the Missouri State Patrol, but he's going to send me a list tomorrow, but I think if we could do something tonight and then we can still explore those other used vehicles.
4:15
Councilman Joe St. Columbia (Ward 2)° Okay. My My question to you, Mr. Mayor, I'm sure you you looked into this financially. Can Do you see financially that we can afford this payment for three? Can we handle that payment for three? But I realize this is an emergency situation and the priority is very high, but you have to have vehicles to operate the police department on.
4:43
Unidentified We do.
4:43
Unidentified Financially?
4:44
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Yeah. Yes, we do have to have police vehicles and we want to make smart purchases. It's my personal belief that if the council were to move forward with five or three, either option tonight would not jeopardize our financial standing. So I I think at the heart of the decision tonight is which one we feel more comfortable with as a body. But yes, to to be direct, we we can move forward with the purchase of vehicles today. And And the question is what What do we feel more comfortable with?
5:12
Councilman Joe St. Columbia (Ward 2) My question to the chief is do they have these in stock where you can get these vehicles
5:19
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders Yes, so
5:21
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders ASAP?
5:21
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° As I spoke with him this morning, he had those three sitting on the lot today. Yesterday he had seven.
5:28
Unidentified They had seven yesterday and today they have three left.
5:31
Unidentified Yes, sir.
5:32
Unidentified And it's what you feel comfortable with you can operate with
5:37
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° It'll put us in a better stance. Five will put us even even better. He said he had to order them. I don't know how long that would take if possible, but uh sooner or later the 26's will be no more. Obviously things going to get higher so the 27 miles definitely will be even more expensive.
5:58
Unidentified Okay.
5:59
Unidentified On these Ram trucks are these where you're purchasing?
6:03
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° Yes, sir, it is. It's one of the holders of the state contract for the minute.
6:08
Unidentified Yeah.
6:09
Unidentified What What are they going to finance? Where are we going to finance these? They're They're They'll finance it.
6:17
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders No, I believe we got financing from Commercial Capital Company.
6:21
Unidentified Oh, okay. At the same percent interest Is that right?
6:27
Unidentified Yes. Yes.
6:28
Unidentified Okay. Okay. Then uh you feel comfortable with three now that we can go ahead and get those three and possibility of getting two more later on.
6:40
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° Anything helps right now.
6:42
Unidentified Yeah.
6:43
Unidentified How about the the equipment to put on them? They have that in in stock?
6:49
Unidentified I just got that quote maybe 45 minutes before the meeting and you all have that in front of you also. But the turnaround on those shouldn't be that long either.
7:00
Councilman Joe St. Columbia (Ward 2) Okay. I'll make a motion then if it's in order that we approve uh the proposal he submitted for three now and the possibility looking continue looking for I don't like to buy used equipment. I'll be honest with you.
7:18
Unidentified Okay.
7:18
Councilman Joe St. Columbia (Ward 2) I was in the beer business for a number of years and it's good business to buy new products. What is the warranty on these? Is how long?
7:28
Unidentified 5 year 100,000 miles. 5 year 100,000 miles.
7:32
Councilman Joe St. Columbia (Ward 2)° 5 year We'll wear them out before 5 years.
7:35
Unidentified Right.
7:36
Unidentified Okay.
7:37
Unidentified Let us hope not. I just want to make clear that he has three on on the fleet now. He could get two more.
7:44
Unidentified Yeah.
7:48
Unidentified He got three
7:49
Unidentified He's got three in stock right now. He could get two more.
7:53
Unidentified He can get two more?
7:54
Unidentified Yes.
7:56
Unidentified Well, if we can get to five, if we can afford Can we afford the five?
7:59
Mayor Joseph Whitfield We We can afford five. Yes. Right now though, there's only three available is what the chief is saying. And um I just want to reiterate what I said at the beginning of the meeting that um five the two proposals that you have in front of you one for five, which I know is valued at the the principal for that um financing term is 360,000 um versus a proposal for three um I want to say that's 210,000. The The question is which one do we feel more um comfortable with? But if we went forward with five trucks today, which we can't because they're only three right now. But um if we were to purchase two more in the future, I I do believe that we could also budget for that as well.
8:40
Unidentified We can do the five.
8:41
Unidentified Well, the five aren't available right now. Three are available right now. But should two more um
8:47
Unidentified three are available right now. If we went ahead and approved if you all saw that we should approve five tonight, he would immediately start
8:56
Unidentified Start to work on them.
8:57
Unidentified on the two. Yeah, correct.
8:59
Unidentified two more later on. Okay.
9:01
Unidentified Yes.
9:01
Councilman Joe St. Columbia (Ward 2)° Then that'll be my motion.
9:02
Unidentified that we can
9:04
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1)° I second that.
9:05
Unidentified Okay.
9:05
Unidentified And Mr.
9:06
Unidentified Is it three or five?
9:07
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Dr. Miller second.
9:08
Unidentified He said five. So, what's the
9:09
Unidentified Five total. Three immediately.
9:13
Unidentified And uh
9:14
Unidentified And later.
9:15
Unidentified Two as we can progress together.
9:17
Unidentified That's as long as the five funds permit.
9:19
Unidentified Five total.
9:20
Unidentified Can we say as funds permit?
9:23
Unidentified Sure.
9:23
Unidentified As funds permit.
9:25
Unidentified Do you want to say that?
9:26
Unidentified As funds permit. Yeah. Yeah.
9:28
Unidentified So, that's three and then the five the the other two would be contingent on having funds.
9:35
Unidentified So, I will be clear. He's not going to shop for the two if we don't say we're going to buy.
9:40
Unidentified Yeah, but we're going
9:41
Unidentified Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.
9:43
Unidentified Well, we said as far as far as permitted. So, basically, it would need to be within that same budget. So, if he comes out and then says, "Oh, it was easy. It's going to be
9:51
Unidentified Oh, for sure. For sure. Okay. Well, the state minimum isn't going to change. So, yeah, we're with you.
9:56
Unidentified And this financially won't interfere with any of our other uh business that we're taking care of.
10:01
Mayor Joseph Whitfield No. No. Um yesterday, what I laid before this body was a report in terms of um where our general fund balance or general uh yeah, general fund balance was. Right now, we're spending less than what we have coming in, which which is a good sign. And I reiterated to this council yesterday that we are spending um conservatively right now. And the the constant or the um what what's still in the background is the mass list of claims. But as far as the spending that the city is doing right now, we're being conservative. So, um we we started with a negative general fund balance at the beginning of January of this year. Currently, we are in the positive, and that's because between January and um July of this year, we spent we we we've outpaced what we spent $340,000 less than what we brought in. So, I I feel confident because I know that as we sit in the office every day, um we're we're not just spending willy-nilly. No.
11:02
Unidentified Okay.
11:03
Councilman Joe St. Columbia (Ward 2)° So, the five, I feel good with the five, and I want to be on record for saying that.
11:06
Unidentified We can handle the five financially with our budget and all.
11:09
Unidentified Well, Mayor, I think the first part of the year that rolls around, I think we might have to do a little adjusting on some salaries.
11:18
Unidentified We're going to have to do something, shrink up something.
11:20
Unidentified this is getting ridiculous. I mean, it's getting serious. I mean,
11:23
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° There's a motion on the floor now. Let's finish this motion first, and then we can talk about
11:28
Unidentified You know, I second the the thing.
11:30
Councilman Joe St. Columbia (Ward 2)° Yeah, I made the motion.
11:31
Unidentified Okay, did we [clears throat] do a discussion yet?
11:33
Unidentified And I was going to
11:33
Unidentified Yeah, we can do a discussion.
11:35
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° I left it yesterday at 3:00 and 3:00. And I'm standing on those three and I thought we needed to do a combination of new and used vehicles. Given our financial situation. I hear what the mayor saying. I think there's a deeper dive that you have to take into the financial report because he's talking about fund balance. Which is bank balance and I I don't like making decisions based on bank balance. I think there's a deeper dive that you have to do and I mentioned some things yesterday that are concerning in the financial report, at least to me. And and maybe it's comfortable with them, but at least to me, I'm concerned with the financial report.
12:15
Unidentified Are we able to call Mr. Turner? Cuz I talked to him yesterday.
12:18
Unidentified I talked to him and I'll tell you what he said.
12:20
Unidentified Okay, tell me.
12:20
Unidentified He said our financial condition is what it is.
12:24
Unidentified Yeah.
12:25
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) He said it is what it is, but he believes we circulate enough cash to make the payment.
12:30
Unidentified Okay.
12:31
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) So, he didn't think it would imperil our operations.
12:34
Unidentified Okay.
12:35
Unidentified And so
12:37
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° I said, "Okay, so what's basically what you're saying is we we're we got enough cash coming through we can make the payments." And he said, "Yes." And I said, "But nothing has significantly changed about our financial situation." He said, "Yeah, that's basically what I'm saying."
12:50
Unidentified All right.
12:51
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) So
12:55
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3)° given the huge amount of debt that we have in the 5-year financing I'm looking at this as greater than just a you know, cuz whatever you buy into, you're talking about 5 years that you're locked into it. And so um there are used options. The county just the county has some used vehicles and I'll tell you I talked to people at the county they're not crazy about what they have. Uh the city of Marble just bought some new used cars and their chief says they're pretty happy with what they got. So, I think it just depends on the kind of shopping that you do. And there's a lot of options. I think we kind of owe it to ourselves to at least explore versus jumping off. And I told them I we need we understood he needed the cars. I'm for getting the cars, but I think you got to balance the finances.
13:49
Unidentified Yeah.
13:51
Unidentified I said this earlier in the year. There's going to be some stuff that happens that you didn't anticipate. We could not have predicted that we didn't foresee.
13:57
Unidentified Okay.
13:57
Unidentified And that remains today. It remains today. Before we get to December, something else is going to happen. Something else is going to happen.
14:05
Unidentified Yeah.
14:06
Councilman Don Etherly (Ward 3) And I just think caution. And that's what I've said all year long. Haven't changed from anything I said. Caution. Caution. So, new cars and used cars. I know, Chief, I know you don't want used cars. I know you don't want used cars. You steer away from it every time I have a conversation, but I mean, we got people around us who are using used cars for a reason. None of us really have any money for this calendar And so, I think it's kind of prudent given where we are. And when you look at the finances, we're not going to be here forever. And so, I'm thinking stopgap measures. We get some new cars, we get some used cars. We're looking into next year. And then there's things that happen. And then we can start looking at new cars. And I think overall, and I I think we talked about this last year. We need to get into a habit of rotating vehicles into our fleet perhaps every year. So, we don't buy an entire fleet, and then that fleet ages out all at once. And now we got to get replacing an entire fleet of cars all at once. And so, I think the way that we can start doing that is like right now.
15:10
Unidentified Well, that's why I believe three or five you know, if we can afford the five, that's fine. If we can't, you know, then the three absolutely. We've got to have some wheels, so I don't like to buy used and old equipment from somebody else. Uh you got a 5-year warranty, you say, on those vehicles?
15:31
Unidentified Yes, sir.
15:32
Unidentified 5-year warranty?
15:33
Unidentified Yes, sir.
15:35
Unidentified The answer is yes?
15:36
Unidentified Yes.
15:37
Unidentified Okay.
15:38
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° No, I want to not to uh disturb your thought uh Councilman St. Columbia, but I do want to add an an agreement to uh Councilman Appleby that if we did get three today and explore used options for two, then I mean our money stretches farther, we get the we get equipment um that we need. We get equipment that we need um and we get to do a little saving on on the back end in terms of what we put out. Um but if should this body again like should this body agree to five today, too, um it doesn't that doesn't hurt us um as a city. So, it's really what does this body feel comfortable with um this evening?
16:20
Unidentified I you know, I personally feel very comfortable with the three. We want to get five, but if we could get the three new, wait a little while, maybe until after the start of the year, crunch the numbers for the budget, because if we're willing to jump out there for five, I mean, it might be a good idea for us to look at instead of getting three used garbage trucks to get one, you know what I'm saying, one decent one with the money that we're saying we feel like we could be able to to You understand what I'm saying? And so, I don't know that that could happen, but you know, I think if we went with the three, for sure.
16:57
Unidentified Yeah.
16:57
Unidentified Crunch the numbers again after the start of the year, we probably could add the other two. And then that will start the rotation of the cars.
17:07
Unidentified Yeah.
17:07
Unidentified You know what I'm saying? So, that we're constantly rotating.
17:10
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° Do you want to amend your motion?
17:12
Councilman Joe St. Columbia (Ward 2)° Okay, then I'll amend my motion to read that we'll do the three now, like you said, and move move forward in that. Would you feel comfortable with that?
17:20
Unidentified Yeah, I I I agreed to three yesterday. Okay. And so I'm I'm I want you to understand I'm not changing on that. I didn't anticipate
17:26
Unidentified was Well, but needs 10, you said originally. I think
17:30
Unidentified We need a fleet, but again
17:32
Unidentified many y'all really need, but we can't afford it, so
17:35
Unidentified But but I'm I don't want to take the the used cars off the table right now. I mean, if he comes up with a a used option of a couple of used options, you know, and he gets those and we can swing those. Now, I won't I
17:48
Unidentified Yeah.
17:48
Unidentified Because those would be If it's used, it's probably mostly equipped. It's probably mostly equipped right now. They can come in faster.
17:56
Unidentified Yeah.
17:57
Unidentified And then they can absolutely supplement what they have right now immediately. So, I'm not saying take that off the table. I'm saying let's let's do a mixture of both.
18:03
Councilman Joe St. Columbia (Ward 2) Okay, then I'll amend my motion to read the three.
18:06
Councilman Dr. Kyle Miller (Ward 1)° Yeah, I'll second that.
18:07
Unidentified You'll second that.
18:09
Mayor Joseph Whitfield All right. We have a motion. Is there any additional discussion on the matter? If not, Madam Clerk, will you call the roll, please?
18:20
Roll call Roll-call vote — Joe St. Columbia: yes; Adrian Messina: yes; Dr. Kyle Miller: yes; Maxine Miller: yes; Don Etherly: yes. Clerk's count: 5 yes.
18:30
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Thank you. Motion passes. So, thank you, Chief, for the uh your due diligence on this. Thank you to the council. Um and uh we we're looking forward to making sure that you all
18:39
Mayor Joseph Whitfield° When did they tell you they could have these on you could have them on the street?
18:43
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders So, we have three. So, we got to do the upfitting first. So, we have to go pick them up after all the paperwork is done. Then we have to take them to get outfitted. Maybe I guess the earliest time would be 2 weeks.
18:57
Unidentified Okay.
18:58
Police Chief Quanderius Sanders° Maybe a month maybe 2 weeks to a month.
18:59
Unidentified Oh, that's good.
19:01
Unidentified Okay. Thank you very much.
19:05
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Thank you all. Thank you all. Uh with that, I I'll entertain a motion to adjourn.
19:12
Councilman Adrian Messina (Ward 2)° I so move.
19:13
Unidentified Is there a second?
19:14
Mayor Joseph Whitfield Meeting adjourned.
How this page was made: built from the city's own meeting video (YouTube ↗) and its posted meeting packet (Drive folder ↗). Dollar figures are quoted from the documents; nothing here is paraphrased from memory. Corrections: cheekforhelena@gmail.com.