Wednesday, September 18, 2002
|
Wednesday, September 18, 2002 |
|
County up in the air about sheriff's copter By JOHN THOMPSON
An angry discussion Thursday night has boiled over into a full-fledged fight between the Fayette County Sheriff's Department and the Fayette County Board of Commissioners over the sheriff's department recent purchase of a helicopter. On one side is Maj. Bruce Jordan who claims he got the County Commission's blessing before the helicopter was purchased in August. "The sheriff and I sat down and talked with (Fayette County Commission Chairman) Greg Dunn and (county administrator) Chris Cofty," said Jordan. "Greg gave me his blessing and said he would talk it over with the other commissioners and hold a meeting when he had the votes to approve it." Dunn, though, has a different account of the Aug. 16 meeting. "We did have a meeting, but I told Bruce to write down what he needed," said Dunn. "He wants the board to pay for maintenance and other costs at about $50,000 a year. He never submitted us a letter and purchased the helicopter on Aug. 20." Dunn also was upset the helicopter was titled to the board. "What would have happened if the helicopter had crashed on the way back from New Hampshire? We would have been liable," he said. During Thursday night's County Commission meeting, Jordan was peppered with questions from the commission. The major explained the department had to purchase the helicopter quickly, because a good deal had been discovered in New Hampshire. "We found an excellent helicopter, and sent somebody with a deposit to New Hampshire," he said. Other agencies wanted the chopper, but Jordan said Fayette County was the only agency who took money with them and was able to purchase it. Jordan told the board the helicopter would be used in 10-hour shifts, five days a week to aid in high speed chases that run through the county and marijuana eradication. Although it would be available all during the day, he said it would probably be in the air about two hours a day. Commissioner Herb Frady, who has a flying background, said he was told by an aviation expert the chopper would cost about $450 an hour to operate, which would cost the board far more than $50,000 a year. In fact, Commissioner A.G. VanLandingham said if the copter were used three hours a day, it would cost $327,000 a year to maintain. Jordan said many of the expenses incurred by the copter would be funded by the department's drug seizure fund, and he felt sure the board would only be liable for his budget request. The board also made it clear that they did not like finding out about the purchase through local news accounts. Jordan said the personnel for flying the copter would be funded through this year's personnel requests and explained the helicopter served the same purpose in high speed chases as 15 deputies in patrol cars. But Commissioner Linda Wells said the department had said they needed every one of the deputies they had requested during the last budget period and had a problem with departments asking for more money so soon into the budget year. In the end, the County Commission decided to wait two weeks before it made any decision on funding the copter. They are expected to make a final decision at the Sept. 26 meeting.
|
||