Blue Ridge City Council Approves Lease of 3 Police Vehicles

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The Blue Ridge City Council met last night (September 9th) for their regular monthly meeting. Central to the meeting was a discussion about the patrol fleet for the police force in the city. Police Chief Johnny Scearce addressed the council regarding the issue of aging police cars and asked if $30,000.00 budgeted to purchase one police car could be used to lease 3 vehicles.

At the end of the discussion, the council voted to allow the purchase of 2 patrol cars and one utility vehicle for $25,000.000.

The vehicles are to be leased 4 years using a Ford Credit program. Chief Scearce said the lease represented a good value given that police cars ‘age’ quickly. After the 4 years, the vehicles would belong to the city.

Presently, there are 9 vehicles in the police fleet. One of those vehicles is a 2003 model with over 200,000 miles recorded. Another is a 2007 model with over 100,000 miles recorded. Scearce told the audience:

“I have to depend on that car. People don’t understand what a chase entails and until they do it. We run these vehicles hard.”

Councilwoman Rhonda Thomas suggested that officers share a car. A member of the audience claiming to be tax payer sided with the councilwoman on the issue. Another citizen attendee countered:

“These guys have to live in these cars. Those cars are their home. Asking them to share will lead to all kinds of conflicts.”

Scearce agreed and added that mileage is the issue. Mileage does not decrease when officers share a vehicle. He reported that the number of fleet vehicles does not change the insurance rate.

Thomas said that she often gets complaints from constituents that too many cars are sitting in the back of the police station. Scearce explained that additional vehicles (some of which were in various states of disrepair and set to be sold as surplus vehicles), were often used to block streets and other non-direct uses.
The department has 5, part-time officers.

In other city business:

Chief Judge Details Public Probation Program

Chief Superior Court Judge of the Appalachian Circuit, Brenda Weaver, spoke to the council about utilizing the public probation services of the circuit.
Mrs. Weaver highlighted the fact that many misdemeanor and traffic offenders are required to pay $44 dollars each day in addition to their ‘community service’- assisting local governments on local projects as part of their sentence.

The purpose of her visit was to encourage the city to utilize the public probation services of the circuit.

She stated that probationers are given drug tests- and are carefully screened and supervised- in order to allow them to work in a public venue.
Weaver said that most probationers work, and many have considerable construction skills.

She added that many are “good people that have made mistakes, just like we all do.”

She encouraged the city to ‘hire’ them, given that the usage of probationers could save the city labor costs.

East Main Street Construction

Considerable discussion took place regarding a street construction project on Main Street. Councilwoman Angie Aarp encouraged the council to take action in order to ‘jump start’ the project.

When the possibility of putting the project out for bid was addressed, a member of the citizen audience called attention to the fact that there was not an engineer’s plan for the project (a fact that prevented potential construction firms from submitting an appropriate bid).

A discussion ensued during which Mayor Whitener mentioned that a plan prepared in 2009 could be used in lieu of hiring an engineer.

Also discussed at length was the need for ‘green space’ on the street. The need for beautification was examined in light of the fact that the street is narrow, and that additional space would have to be balanced against a need for street parking.

At the end of the discussion, the council resolved to go forth to develop the “spec work” needed for the project.

Councilwoman Angie Aarp brought up the subject of department head accountability and the discussion devolved into a considerably lengthy, acrimonious exchange between Aarp and Mayor Whitener to the point that the Mayor eventually countered:

“If this is just an argument you have, I am not in the mood for it.”

Shortly afterwards, the mayor put down the gavel and said:

“This meeting is adjourned.”

She resumed the meeting when it was realized that several items remained on the agenda.

Home Builder’s Effort to Have Booth Fee Waived Fails Council Vote

Ross McCain, representing the Fannin County Building Industry Association (BIA) approached an exhausted and distracted council during the final minutes of the two-and-a-half hour meeting to ask the board to waive the booth fee for the group’s annual “Builder’s Showcase” event.

A motion was heard- and there was a first and a second- but the motion did not pass.

FYN made contact with Mr.McCain afterwards and he told us that, historically, the city had routinely given the group $2,500.00 to defray event costs. McCain explained that the city considered the event an economic development investment.

McCain said that the city charged $50.00 per booth and the BIA planned to have approximately 50 booths.

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