Union County School Systems Bid on Police Cars

Union County, Ga.—Union County School System contacted 84 vendors for bids on two potential vehicles for their Police Department. Two bids were returned from Jacky Jones Ford in Cleveland, Ga. and Ware Chevrolet in Blairsville, Ga.

Union County Schools Police Department currently owns two Dodge Durangos and has an order placed for two Dodge Durangos for 24,000 dollars each. These Durangos need additional work done as far as outfitting the vehicles with proper safety measures like lights, reflectors, sirens, etc.

Board of Education’s Assessment & Compliance Coordinator David Murphy suggested that the Board of Education go with the Jacky Jones Ford bid because the Dodge Chargers are already outfitted and there are about a 10K dollar cheaper.

Board Member Janna D. Atkins asked, “So how many vehicles do we have?”

Murphy responded, “We own two Dodge Durangos and we have another two Dodge Durangos on order. This [the Jacky Jones Ford deal] would allow us to cancel the order because the Dodge Durangos are 24,000 plus outfitting and the lights and all the equipment would make for a several thousand-dollar cost. So, this would be the cheapest option we can get.”

Janna D. Atkins replied, “So this is just a matter of us changing our minds between the Dodge Durangos and the Dodge Chargers?”

Superintendent John Hill spoke, “We found a cheaper option.”

Chairwoman Cynthia Odom stated, “Well there wasn’t any used ones available when we initially looked at them…”

Both Hill and Murphy answered, “No, ma’am.”

Murphy continued, “All the information that we got [from initial search] was 80,000-100,000-mile vehicles. We put out [bids] there for less than 40,000.”

Hill explained, “There were some cars at this price point that was low-mileage used cars, but they weren’t outfitted with all the equipment.”

In the end, there was a unanimous vote to approve the Jacky Jones Ford bid for the two new outfitted Dodge Chargers for the Union County School Police Department pursuit vehicles.