In a surprise move, the Peachtree City Council last Thursday voted against a plan to build a new auto repair shop for the public works department.

The current auto shop is not large enough for the city’s fire engines, and city mechanics have to work on them in the open, even in inclement weather, according to Public Works Director Tom Corbett. The city performs almost all maintenance on the fire engines in-house because of the quicker turnaround time necessary for emergency vehicles.

Councilwoman Cyndi Plunkett asked if staff had studied whether outsourcing the repairs would be cheaper in the long run than building the new auto shop. She was interested in how long it would take for the city to “break even” on the building costs by not sending the fire engines elsewhere.

That information was not available from staff.

The project is not dead, as Plunkett said she might change her vote if she could be provided with more information supporting the expense. Plunkett joined council members Judi-ann Rutherford and Stuart Kourajian in voting against the expenditure, with Mayor Harold Logsdon and Councilman Steve Boone voting in favor.

Rutherford said she has opposed this project from its inception and she didn’t plan to change her mind.

“It’s not money I want to spend,” Rutherford said. “I wasn’t willing to spend it two years ago and I’m not willing to do so now.”

Boone said he looked at the project differently.

“I call it a life safety issue if somebody’s out in the rain and cold, working to fix an engine,” Boone said.

Peachtree City’s mechanics are now certified to maintain the fire engines, but that hasn’t always been the case. One time, a fire engine was out for a week because it had to be sent back to South Carolina for service, said Assistant City Manager Colin Halterman.

City staff had planned to finance the $498,500 construction cost over a seven-year period instead of paying the full cost up front. That cost was the lowest of four bids the city received for the project.