Published: November 11, 2008 10:43 am      

Commissioners award bid for police cars to McRae Ford

By Cristin Ross

cross@jacksonvilleprogress.com

Cherokee County commissioners didn’t have any trouble shopping local Monday morning.

During the regular court session held Monday, commissioners reviewed six bids on four new patrol vehicles for the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department and approved awarding the bid to Bill McRae Ford in Jacksonville — the lowest bid at $20,797 per 2009 Crown Victoria sedan with police package.

“I recommend this bid because it is the lowest,” county Auditor L.H. Crockett said after going over each bid with commissioners.

Pearman Motor Company in Alto also submitted bids on 2009 Dodge Chargers. The lone Chevrolet bid, from Caldwell County Chevrolet in Caldwell, offered 2009 Chevy Tahoes with police packages.

“I didn’t specify what types of vehicles we wanted, beyond rear-wheel drives,” Sheriff James Campbell said during Monday’s meeting.

Commissioners allowed for the new vehicles in the 2008-09 budget.

In a related matter, commissioners also approved County Judge Chris Davis to sign documents providing the financing for the four cars through Citizens 1st Bank, Rusk.

In other business, commissioners approved:

• laying gas lines along County Roads 2812 and 2813 in Precinct 2 and laying a water line along County Road 3405 in Precinct 3;

• bids on two new Mack dump trucks;

• Dr. Mark Race to provide primary health care services at the Cherokee County Health Department; and

• renewing the ingress and egress permit for Ridge Air, Inc. at the Cherokee County Airport.

During the open session portion of the meeting, Auditor L.H. Crockett requested commissioners consider contracting Henry & Peters auditing firm to review the Tax Assessor-Collector’s office.

“We’ve traditionally done a review of the office when an elected official changes,” Crockett said. “Since our in-house auditor Linda Little is the one who was elected to the office, obviously we can’t ask her to perform the review.”

Little was elected Tax Assessor-Collector on Nov. 4.

Crockett told commissioners three-quarters of the county’s budget is collected through the Tax Assessor-Collector’s office.

“I think it’s a good idea to have a bench mark for the new Tax Assessor-Collector,” Precinct 2 Commissioner Kevin Pierce said.

Crockett reported the service would cost an estimated $6,000.

“We can’t make a decision on this today,” County Judge Chris Davis said. “We’ll make sure we get this on our next agenda so we can get the ball rolling on this.”