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”.
Y’all just can’t stop can you.
1) You announce very publicly, over and over in several posts, that you have no police protection for the cities citizens! Which includes a School!!! You’re not helping by blasting this information in the news! HELLO! THINK!
2) You Publicly announce the asking price of $35,000 on the GovDeals website, and then said you will take less??????? What? So you’re already anticipating it not selling for $35k…..
I’m seeing $10k in negative equity that the citizens are left holding (Trade value plus $3k). (Guess you can always ask the county to bail you out and buy it for Constable 4…)
3) KWHI posted an article on “Nov 27 2017” that Greg was running for Constable and the Primary was March 6 2018. Y’all knew he was running unopposed right, so y’all knew he had a really, really good chance of winning, Right? So did ya post a job posting? Point is, you still purchased the vehicle knowing there was a very real possibility that you wouldn’t have an officer in it. Doesn’t seem like we’re being diligent with taxpayer money, At least then.
4) How much is it going to cost to contact with the Sheriff Dept. to handle law enforcement in Burton?
5) I mean, you already have the county maintaining streets. What are we doing?
Get it together! Think before you speak. Stop making our town look bad… Please.
The people in the town never cease to amaze me.
Lord forgive them for they know not what they do…
Finally some common sense. The police department was a waste of money to the city.
The Police Department sounds like a waste of money until the closest patrol unit is in Old Washington and someone is kicking in your door ! Then you might think it’s not such a waste of money ! Wake up people we are living in a really scary time ! But a lot will just stick their head in the sand and think we live in a safe world and nothing will ever happen !
And so, after all the uproar over lowering the speed limit for that mile and a half through the edge of Burton, there is no law enforcement officer (nearby) to enforce it. That makes little sense any which way you look at it. And, if you’re expecting the Washington County Sheriff’s Department or the Department of Public Safety officers to closely monitor that stretch of roadway, I’m sure they have other things to be doing. What is even more worrisome is the fact that any disturbances or problems that occur in Burton now require law enforcement officers from elsewhere to respond, leading to longer wait times in possibly critical situations.
Maybe Burton is leading the charge in the defunding of police departments… Just let the residents take care of their own law enforcement needs.
Guess if they would have gotten the K-9 unit from the gas company. He would be up for sale to
Why does Burton not want to hire an officer!!?? I know funds were talked about previously but Greg did an awesome job of bringing in funds didnt he!?
Maybe city council and the mayor can do something about the crumbling roads and derelict buildings. Commerce will not coming with eyesores and bad roads.
And that is exactly what is wrong with the many cities view their police departments, Police are not supposed to be a funding source, police are supposed to protect and serve through fair and effective enforcement of laws. Many of us feared that Burton wanted to return to being s speed trap when they adjusted the speed limit on 290. It seems as if the city is wisely rejecting this. When you use police as a funding source, you can guarantee that quota’s which are illegal will be somewhere in the background. It is frightening how willing people are to prey on others financially using armed government staff to do it.