PINE BLUFF -- The City Council voted unanimously Monday to finance about $723,000 to equip nearly all of the Pine Bluff Police Department's 50-strong fleet of cruisers with video cameras and to purchase 19 new vehicles -- 14 of which will be sport utility vehicles to better handle rising waters during storms.
The council voted to suspend the rules that require three separate readings, which could take weeks, and immediately approved the two ordinances for the purchase and financing of the equipment.
An ordinance waiving normal, competitive bidding requirements and selecting Trotter Ford Inc. and Smart Chevrolet to purchase the vehicles was unanimously approved by the council. The ordinance -- sponsored by Aldermen Thelma Walker and Glen Brown Jr. -- was not on the regular agenda released to the press or public before the meeting.
The only discussion in the meeting on the issue came from Alderman Bruce Lockett, who asked if bypassing the bidding procedure was normal. Finance Director Steve Miller said it was not regular procedure for purchases.
Interim Police Chief Ivan Whitfield said it was necessary to break from procedure because going out of Pine Bluff for the vehicle purchase would have saved only $70 to $80, and he wanted to keep the service local. The 19 vehicles -- which include 14 Ford Explorers, three Dodge Chargers and two vehicles for the city's Quality of Life Division -- will cost about $422,205.
The city had received bids from other vendors after it placed a legal advertisement requesting proposals. The bids were requested by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette but were not supplied as of late Monday night.
Whitfield said in an interview after the meeting that bids to furnish the video cameras, estimated to cost about $301,359.93, were not collected, and the city will use its current contractor, L3 Mobile-Vision Inc. based out of New York. The company specializes in police and military communication systems.
"To change sources would be a huge amount extra," Whitfield said.
The council also unanimously approved an ordinance sponsored by Alderman Bill Brumett to award the bid for financing the new vehicles and camera equipment to U.S. Bancorp Government Leasing and Finance Inc.
U.S. Bancorp was the lowest of the three bids submitted, with an interest rate of 1.94 percent for the patrol vehicles and 2.18 percent for the video camera systems. The vehicles will be financed for 36 months in three annual installments of $165,236.42. The video equipment will be financed for 60 months payable in five annual installments of $64,270.43. Both payments begin on April 15, 2018.
Bid documents released Monday show the unsuccessful finance bidders as Relyance Bank and Simmons Bank, both of Pine Bluff. Relyance bid a 4.0 percent interest rate for the vehicles and a 2.65 percent rate for the video equipment. Simmons bid a 2.64 percent interest rate for the vehicles, but no bid documents were released for the video equipment portion.
After the meeting, Walker said the issue had been discussed at length in previous Public Safety Committee meetings. She said bypassing the normal procedure for approving the equipment purchase and financing was warranted because many of the department's cars are "broken down and in need of replacement."
Whitfield said the new cars and video equipment should be in use within 120 days.
"It is our job as administrators to make sure [the officers] have the proper equipment that they need. It's a safety issue," Whitfield said. "When a car begins to get so many miles on it, the car begins to break down more. You've got to jump them off more. It becomes a danger to the officer, and that's not good. The need is there. That's just a basic need. We need more than that, but at this point in time we could not afford it. We just have to take what we can get."
State Desk on 03/21/2017