NATCHEZ — The Adams County Sheriff’s Office hopes to purchase new vehicles after two were ruined in recent accidents, officials said.

Adams County Sheriff Travis Patten requested permission from the Board of Supervisors Tuesday morning to purchase a used vehicle for $15,250 with 54,000 miles on it from the Missouri Highway Patrol.

The Missouri Highway Patrol, however, would only hold the vehicle for a week, Patten said.

The board unanimously agreed to increase the sheriff’s vehicle budget pending legal review by the board attorney, Scott Slover.

District 2 Supervisor David Carter was absent from Tuesday’s meeting.

On Jan. 15, a sheriff’s office 2007 Dodge Charger driven by Lt. Stanley Searcy Jr. was struck on the passenger side by a suspected drunk driver at the intersection of State and Martin Luther King Jr.

Searcy sustained minor injuries as the vehicle flipped over, Patten said.

Similarly, Capt. Tony Nichols was hit while driving the ACSO’s 2010 Dodge Charger on U.S. 61 North by the Natchez Market last September and also walked away from the accident, Patten said.

However, both vehicles were totaled during those incidents, Patten said, adding that both deputies were T-boned as other drivers ran through red lights and neither deputy was at fault.

“I’m just glad they’re both OK,” Patten said.

The unit Nichols drove was valued at approximately $7,000, Patten said, and the insurance company would send them a check after the county fills out the necessary paperwork and sent them the title.

Meanwhile, Searcy’s patrol unit had been totaled more recently and would take a bit longer to process, Patten said, and his office needed another vehicle sooner than that could happen.

“(That accident) has created a problem,” Patten said. “We only have one spare vehicle that is being used and it has 180,000 miles on it, so we’re in a bind.”

The sheriff’s office also has ordered four patrol units — brand new Dodge Durangos — that are partly funded through a U.S. Department of Agriculture Grant.

Adams County Administrator, Joe Murray said four vehicles would cost $129,680, $84,380 of which would be covered under the grant leaving the county responsible for $45,300 of the cost.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Murray recommended the board begin a financing arrangement for some or part of the vehicles until the grant is received.

Patten said he expects the new patrol units to be delivered in March or later.

“We’re kind of playing musical cars right now,” Murray said. “Half of our fleet has more than 100,000 miles on them, 10 have over 150,000 and a couple are pushing 200,000 miles.”

The ACSO currently owns 64 vehicles, Patten said, including the county ambulance, boat and trailer, some unmarked narcotics units, and at least two vehicles that were seized from drug busts.

In other matters during Tuesday’s meeting of the Adams County Board of Supervisors, the board:

•  Heard concerns voices by two county residents of Wickcliff Road near the Natchez State Park regarding at least two areas of the road that caved in over rusted culverts. Slover said the county is already at work gaining the legal rights-of-way to repair the road after reports of the damaged areas had been received.
• Agreed to advertise for a public hearing regarding the abandonment of the gravel section of McGehee Road.
• Accepted a permit application from AT&T to work on a fiber cable along LE Barry Road.
• Approved bridge repairs on Verucchi Road, located off of U.S. 61, which includes hauling sections of the bridge to the county barn for a cost of approximately $625.
• Approved payroll changes, including one pay raise in the county road department to $12 per hour, two new hires as part-time employees and two employees moving from full-time to part-time status in the emergency management department — all with hourly wages of $10 per hour.
• Approved repairs to the carpet and walls at the county health department. The  damage was the result of a leaking roof, and the repairs are funded by a Community Development Block Grant.