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Wilkes-Barre City council to consider purchase of 10 new police vehicles
Jun. 10—WILKES-BARRE — Several items will be on the agenda for council to vote on at Thursday's regular session, including the potential purchase of 10 new police vehicles and updated computers.
As explained in the work session, council will consider approving the city's entry into a five-year lease and purchase agreement with Community Leasing Partners for a total of $384,815.00, with an annual payment of $89,231.76, for the purchase of five new police vehicles.
According to City Administrator Charlie McCormick, who spoke in Mayor George Brown's absence, the additional five vehicles will be purchased outright through an LSA Grant.
"I don't believe we've had any more than one or two [new police cars] in the last several years," he said. "If you see the police vehicles going around, they're pretty shot."
Council Member Mike Belusko asked if there were funds set aside in the budget for the purchase, and McCormick said no, but that the first payment on the lease wouldn't be made until sometime next year, and most of the payments would run into the next budgetary period following the current one.
"I'd say about a quarter this year we'd have to cover that we didn't have in our budget, but about 75% would be the following year," he said.
Additionally, the council will vote on a resolution authorizing the city to purchase replacement computers for vehicles' computers that cannot be upgraded.
The resolution includes the 14 Panasonic Toughbook FZ-55's from Baycom for $52,402.00 along with 14 Havis DS-PAN-432 Docking Stations from 10-8 Emergency Vehicle Service for a purchase price of $16,553.04 both from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Cooperative Purchasing Program.
McCormick said funding for that purchase will come from the city's asset forfeiture program.
Conyngham Avenue culvert
Also on Thursday's agenda will be a resolution allowing the city to retain a finance package not to exceed $600,000 to fund emergency repairs recommended to restore the integrity of the line and avoid repeated repairs at the 60-inch culvert located in an area off Conyngham Avenue.
"Most of the area runs underground, and we've had two major repairs there in the previous two years, and now we have a major cave-in. It's cleared now, but we have to basically re-line the old culvert," McCormick explained.
ArcGIS Velocity program
Council will also consider a resolution to purchase an ArcGIS Velocity program to utilize real-time data integration to enhance public health preparedness and emergency management, and to purchase Velocity, an automated program to integrate GPS data for public health advisories and communications in the amount of $52,530 from Environmental Systems Research Institute.
The purchase will be funded by a Public Health Emergency Preparedness Grant.
Market Street Bridge work
During council presentations, Council Chairman Tony Brooks said that he had received a letter from PennDOT, regarding upcoming construction work on Market Street Bridge.
"I'm so excited about this because I love the Market Street Bridge," he said. "In 10th grade, I wrote a history paper about it."
Based on the letter, Brooks said PennDOT plans to address any structural deficits in the bridge, preserve it, clean it and replace all period-style lighting to match the historical nature of the bridge.
The chairman said the last time the bridge was worked on was 1986.
New preservation work is set to begin the fall of 2027.
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