MILFORD – The sale of a decommissioned police car netted $1,280 after expenses, Town Marshal Rich Miotto told Milford council Monday. He said the 2007 cruiser, with about 120,000 miles, sold for $1,800 at auction last week, but required a $180 seller’s fee and $340 to remove equipment. Over the marshal’s protests, council directed him last month to sell the cruiser after the arrival of a 2014 vehicle. He said the department saved $150 by taking the old console out, and that they sorted, stored or trashed old equipment depending on age and need. The light bar works but is out of production, and he expects to get about $250 by offering it to another agency. Also during his report, Miotto thanked American Legion Riders Post 154, Nappanee, for its donation of $50 toward training and supplies. Town Fire Chief Todd Haines reported that his department will be holding a portrait studio fundraiser soon, to raise money for new airpack masks with voice amplifiers and a monitor to show training videos on. He also cautioned residents to be careful when using space heaters, citing several recent home fires in Indiana – some fatal – caused by the heaters. “We don’t want that in Milford,” he said. “We don’t want that anywhere.” He also said the department will have Hoosier Fire service its hydraulic rescue tools yearly from now on, noting the tools didn’t work the last time they let maintenance go for a few years. Council heard earlier in the meeting from town attorney Jay Rigdon that a local law prohibiting synthetic and look-alike drugs might be pre-empted by state law, making it unnecessary or even unconstitutional. Council directed him last month to look into drafting a law, but dropped the idea Monday after his answer. “There’d be no impact, in the sense that there are already state laws making it illegal,” he remarked. Miotto added that town police charge synthetic and look-alike drug users with abusing inhalants. Syracuse and North Webster are among towns that have moved ahead with their own synthetic drug prohibitions. The North Webster law was passed in December as a “backup plan,” using the state criminal code’s definition of synthetic drugs and setting fines for their sale in town.
