The Statesboro City Council voted Tuesday to move forward with a new security system for the police headquarters to and to begin the bid process for a total of 11 new vehicles for the police department. The vote to approve the projects not to exceed $590,000 combined was unanimous with all council members present.
Police Chief Mike Broadhead appeared before Council members Tuesday to request Council approval to begin the process of purchasing nine marked patrol vehicles and two unmarked vehicles with a price maximum of $545,000.
Broadhead told Council members the cars had previously been budgeted out of the 2013 SPLOST funds, but because the SPLOST did not keep up with the projections, the funding mechanism would a portion of the one mill increase passed by Council in 2017. “That money is available to be used and frankly we need it to keep our fleet healthy and to get it back to being healthy. This amount of money would allow us to get nine marked patrol cars and two additional cars,” Broadhead said.
From 2017 millage rate increase hearings:
Statesboro PD Request for 11 vehiclesStatesboro Council to Move Forward with Millage Increase for Public Safety
Councilman John Riggs asked if all the vehicles would be Fords, as the most recent
purchases by the PD included Ford Explorer SUV models. Broadhead said it would be the goal to purchase SUV vehicles, but that they would be put out to bid.
“The state doesn’t have a fleet purchase program,” Councilman Phil Boyum asked Broadhead.
“Yes, they do. And we used that last time but we’ve had some local vendors tell us they’d really want to be able to bid on that and so we’re going to put it out for bid this time to allow local vendors the opportunity to see if they can beat the state fleet price, and if they can, great. And if they cannot, then we will go with the state bid,” Broadhead told Council.
Boyum asked if the City was just going to go with the lowest bid, a decision that is not up to Broadhead but the Council once the bids are returned. “There’s gotta be some costs savings, save a little bit more,” he said.
“Our goal is to put out a very specific spec sheet out,” Broadhead responded. He also told Council that the Fords purchased previously came with a 7-year warranty, “which is the life of the patrol car.”
Councilman Derek Duke told Chief Broadhead that he recently visited the Police Department and sat in both the older Dodge Charger vehicles and the newer Ford Explorers. “There was a pronounced difference in visibility and the safety of the officer in the SUV,” he said. Broadhead assured him that the spec sheet would indicate the city was seeking SUV patrol cars. Duke reiterated that he felt the SUVs would increase police officer performance.
A motion was made by Councilman Jeff Yawn and seconded by Councilman John Riggs. It passed unanimously. Once the bids are returned, they will be brought before Council for approval.
In a separate agenda item, Broadhead also told council members that the PD had an
immediate need for a replacement door locking security system. “The current system has suffered an approximately 1/3rd failure and the vendor can no longer support the technology,” the council agenda read.
Statesboro PD Request for new security systemThe vote to approve the new security system was also unanimous.
You can watch the City Council meeting in its entirety below. The discussion on the police department purchases begins just after the 21:00 mark.
Jessica Szilagyi is a former Statewide Contributor for AllOnGeorgia.com.