Manor Township Supervisors Tag Hecker, Bob Southworth, and Don Palmer discuss agenda items that will impact their police department.
Manor Township supervisors last night passed several items on the agenda that will help the police department do its job.
Supervisors approved the hiring of Karissa Grossman as a full-time police officer. Grossman was an Ohio Highway Patrol trooper.
“We are excited to have her,” Police Chief Paul France said. “She is highly qualified and will be an asset to the Department.”
With hiring Grossman, that brings the total number of full-time officers to three. The Department also employs nine part-time officers.
Supervisors also decided to replace two of the five police vehicles. At the September 18, 2019 meeting, supervisors had agreed to pay up to $64,000 from the Capital Reserve Fund to purchase two replacement vehicles. However, France reported that the vehicles they had intended to purchase were no longer available. Supervisors agreed to increase the total purchase price for both cars to $76,500.
“The current cars are nickel-diming us to death,” Supervisor Don Palmer said.
The older cars, a 2013 Ford Interceptor SUV and a 2015 Ford Interceptor SUV, both have more than 100,000 miles on it.
Manor Township Police Chief Paul France reviews the police report with supervisors at last night’s public meeting.
France said the Township intends to put the older vehicles on the internet auction site Munici-Bid. The cars will be stripped down of all police equipment before sale.
The cars to be purchased include a 2017 Ford Interceptor Utility (SUV) with minimal mileage.
“The car has a lot of factory stuff that we normally don’t get,” France said.
The other vehicle is a Ford 2018 Ford Interceptor Utility demo car.
“They use it to it show off at Expos,” France said. “It already has a lighting package. We only have to put radio in it and it is ready to go. We are saving $15,000 in just additional equipment that is included.”
One car will be unmarked, and the other marked. Both are all wheel drive.
France expects to take delivery the week of October 7 (next week). One car will go on road as soon as municipal plates come in. The other car has to have equipment changed out from one of the cars they are retiring. He expects to have both cars fully operational before November.
Another decision made last night will impact the police department as well as the entire municipal building. Supervisors agreed to purchase a new heating system for an installed price of $12,770.
“It will take care of issues we are having in the township building and the police quarters,” Palmer said.
After the police area was remodeled last year, there was not sufficient heat and air conditioning.
“Last year, we tried with space heaters, but that didn’t work well at all,” Palmer said.
Miller’s Kalamazoo will install the new system that will include remote control thermostats that will adjust the heat and air conditioning in each area of the building. According to Supervisor Bob Southworth, the new system is an electric hyper-heat pump that will replace an older gas furnace.
“It is good down to 20-below,” Southworth said. “Other systems lose efficiency when temperatures drop down below 20 degrees above zero.”
The supervisors are facing the building of a garage to house their police vehicle fleet as well as a new evidence room that is mandated by law. Palmer shopped to refinance the current loan on the building with additional money to build both the garage and the evidence room. The new refinanced amount of $675,000 will lower the monthly payment, but extend the term of the loan by two years. Supervisors took bids from various banks. Nextier Bank made the best offer of 2.98%.
The next meeting of Manor Township supervisors will be on Wednesday, October 16 at 6PM in the municipal building meeting room.