Sheriff’s department to purchase new patrol vehicles

The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office will be getting vehicle replacements soon.

At Monday night’s Shelby County Commission meeting, a resolution was passed appropriating $600,000 towards the vehicles, combined with $300,000 from Sheriff John Samaniego’s discretionary funds to assist with the purchase.

“This is the fourth year the sheriff has partnered with the county commission,” said County Manager Alex Dudchock. “He is the first sheriff to ever do this and has been doing it consistently.”

Sheriff Samaniego said he plans to purchase 16 patrol vehicles and with the money left over, purchase another transport van to replace one of the older ones.

“This is happening a little earlier before the fiscal year, but we had an opportunity to get a deal,” Samaniego said.

A resolution was also passed regarding the YMCA bond. Shelby County Parks and Recreation Authority is releasing the deeds back to the YMCA to do the refinancing in order to get the best rates possible.

Attorneys for the YMCA said because the project has locations in Shelby County, the commission has to give their approval. The two locations, Alabaster and Greystone, will be getting lower interest on the loans that finance those buildings.                                   

The approval for a liquor license for Pho 280 was also approved.

During the County Engineer’s Report, Randy Cole said that ADECCA recently completed a visit assessing flood plains and the county “passed with flying colors.”

“They are required to do a Community Assistance Visit and make sure we are following the rules in order to stay in the flood program,” Cole said. “They were extremely impressed with the process we have in place.”

Cole also reported that at next month’s commission meeting, he will present the transportation plan to show how the county will spend the proceeds from the recently passed gas tax, which should bring in around $2.2 million each year.

Councilman Elwyn Bearden read a proclamation proclaiming September to be Gynecological Cancer Awareness Month. More than 30,000 women die from the disease each year and Councilman Kevin Morris said he is thankful for early detection.

“We hope this will raise public awareness to help others be precautionary on the front end of this process.”

The next county commission meeting will be held August 12 at 6 p.m. at the County Administration building in Columbiana.