BURTON CITY COUNCIL VOTES TO SELL POLICE VEHICLE; SEARCH FOR POLICE OFFICER PUT ON HOLD

  

The City of Burton will soon be selling the police department’s recently purchased patrol unit, and has announced it will halt its search for a new police officer.

The Burton City Council voted unanimously at its meeting Tuesday to sell the city’s 2018 Chevrolet Tahoe police vehicle, which the council approved the purchase of in January of 2018 as an “emergency purchase” for the department.

The city has not had a police officer since last August, when previous Police Chief Greg Rolling resigned.  According to a statement received this (Wednesday) morning from City Secretary Angela Harrington, the council “has decided to delay the hiring of a police officer for the foreseeable future, thus leaving the department inactive”.

Harrington said the council has discussed what it feels should be the financial priorities of the city, and with its limited budget, its “desperate need of a back-up water well”, and several streets being “in great need of very costly repairs”, the decision was made to sell the police vehicle and put the search for a new officer on hold to assist in funding those projects.

Mayor David Zajicek said the total cost of the vehicle in 2018, including necessary police equipment, was $45,000, but the city only paid $38,000 after trading in an old unit.  The vehicle was paid off in full at the council’s meeting in March.

The city will first try to sell the vehicle, which has 33,000 miles on it, with its police equipment for $35,000 on the GovDeals website, but will drop down to lower prices if needed.  The council initially threw out a sales suggestion of $22,500 for the vehicle and equipment, but Zajicek said selling it for that amount would be “practically giving it away”.