Sand Mountain Reporter

Boaz City Police will have a new tool to protect themselves and the public soon.

Boaz City Council members gave Police Chief Terry Davis the go-ahead to seek bids for approximately 25 Tasers.

The weapons will be paid for through a JAG grant received by the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office and divided among the local police departments in Albertville, Boaz, Guntersville and Arab.

“We have some Tasers now, but the officers have to share them. By buying this many more, each officer will be issued his or her own and they will, in turn, last longer and give each officer an additional measure of safety,” Davis said.

Davis projects the Taser purchase to cost approximately $18,000. Any remaining JAG grant funds will be used to purchase laptop computers for use in patrol cars, Davis said.

“This is just a big need we have right now. We were very fortunate to get that grant,” Davis said.

In other business, Councilman David Dyar reported the police department responded to 1,959 calls, made 189 arrests and drove 15,235 miles on patrol during the month of November.

• Councilmen gave Mayor Tim Walker permission to seek bids to purchase fire extinguishers and related service contracts.

Walker said the estimated costs for the extinguishers fall well under the state requirements for soliciting bids. However, the city has purchased extinguishers and service from now fire Chief Mike Sparks.

“This is usually not a biddable item,” Walker said. “But since (Sparks) is now chief, we want to make sure we are doing it right. It is my understanding that if the bids come in under $3,000, we can purchase them from him. This is just a housekeeping matter.”

• Learned the first ever Christmas Extravaganza held Dec. 5 was deemed a success, regardless of the low temperatures and early morning snow.

“We are going to be tweaking the plans for next year and we are thinking of holding it in July next year,” McRae joked. “For the first year, it was a great success. The Christmas parade held Dec. 4 was a success as well and well attended.”

• The Council met in an executive session to discuss personnel for 20 minutes. No formal action was taken following the session.

• A public hearing to discuss proposed zoning of recently annexed property in the Mountainboro community was set for Jan. 11 2010 at 6 p.m. at the Boaz Senior Center. Walker said the date was set next month allowing more people to attend following the holiday season.

• Learned the next council meeting will be Dec. 21, a week earlier than normal, to accommodate the Christmas holiday.

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Publisher: Ben Shurett

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