Grant funds being invested in new sheriff’s office vehicles

Grady County Sheriff Harry Young is putting grant funds to work by placing three new vehicles on the road to replace aging patrol cars.
Tuesday morning, Grady County commissioners voted 3-1 to accept a bid of $33,472 per unit from Stallings Motors of Cairo for the new sheriff’s vehicles. The actual low bid of $32,863.15 was submitted by McLaggan Communications & Radar Service of Hahira, Ga. Lt. Steve Clark of the sheriff’s office recommended the commission accept the bid of Stallings Motors since the local dealership would be making warranty repairs on the vehicles for the first three years. Clark also briefed commissioners on McLaggan’s operations. The Hahira firm is an outfitter of law enforcement vehicles but is not an actual automobile dealer.
The sheriff’s office also requested a quote from Robert Hutson of Moultrie, but the bid was not submitted until after the deadline for quotes.
County Administrator Rusty Moye noted that the Stallings bid was within two percent of the low bid.
“You are talking about roughly $600 per car, but you’ve also got to consider what Stallings contributes to the tax base and the number of workers they employ locally,” Commissioner Charles Norton said prior to making a motion to accept what he considered the best bid.
Only Commissioner Bobby Burns voted against the motion.
The sheriff’s office was awarded a $54,677 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice that can be used to defray the cost of the new car purchase. Combined with $35,000 that was appropriated by the county commission in the 2010 operating budget and pulling the remaining $10,739 from the vehicle repair line item in the budget the sheriff’s office will be able to put three new cars on the road rather than only one.
County Administrator Rusty Moye said that after the transaction the county will still have about $27,000 remaining in the budget for vehicle repair and he believes that will cover the county for the remainder of the year.
According to Lt. Clark, “We have some high mileage cars and the costs to repair them and keep them running is high. In the last few months it’s been like a revolving door of cars at the county shop. We are hoping with the purchase of these new cars it will relieve some of that.”