County Stays With Fuelman System

The Van Zandt County Sheriff’s Office will remain with Fuelman for its patrol and transport fuel purchases after county commissioners rejected a bid-based offer for the contract by Chick’s Chevron in Canton.

That action was strongly opposed by Precinct 4 Commissioner Ron Carroll after county auditor John Shinn’s analysis showed Chick’s Chevron to offer the lower price per gallon.

"I have nothing against Fuelman, but they don’t pay taxes in this county," Carroll said. "Based on what John has given us, and he has spent long hours on this, Chick’s has given us the better (offer)…

Directing a comment at Van Zandt County Sheriff Pat Burnett, Carroll added, "You use 80 percent of your fuel purchases in Canton anyway."

However, Burnett and Lt. Steve Allen countered that the Fuelman system helped the department’s effort for public safety by allowing patrol deputies and investigators to refuel at various cities throughout the county.

Burnett said the bid offer from Chick’s Chevron "has some pluses to it," but added that a delayed response time to a call because of the need to drive back to Canton and refuel could have dire consequences.

"It only has to happen one time," he warned about the response time issue.

Using a statistical computation involving daily price samples from both Fuelman and Chick’s Chevron, Shinn calculated that the Chick’s Chevron bid would save the county about $2,600 per year.

However, Precinct 2 Commissioner Virgil Melton Jr. agreed with Burnett’s stance, saying, "It all amounts to public safety. You don’t want citizens having to wait longer for response to a call."

Carroll initially made a motion to accept the Chick’s Chevron bid but the motion failed for lack of a second. He then cast the lone opposition vote to a motion to reject the bid.

"I think we should not ask people to go out for bids on this next year, and have those people put all that work into making a bid," Carroll said.

Now that the county has decided to remain with the Fuelman system for now, it will consider Fuelman against two other "fleet management" fueling systems.

Shinn told the commissioners’ court that there are similar options offered by the State of Texas and by Exxon/Mobil through the Wright Express system. All three systems are options available to Van Zandt County through interlocal agreements with other governmental cooperatives.

Also in Tuesday’s meeting, the court approved a pair of grant fund applications to help acquire equipment for the sheriff’s office.

Allen presented both matters before the court. One is for a $10,368 fund from the Byrnes JAG Local Solicitation Grant to purchase tasers for patrol officers.

Allen said if the tasers could not be purchased with the grant money for any reason, the alternative use for the money is to buy a computer server to allow video transfers from in-vehicle camera systems.

The other funding application approval was for the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant. Allen said the sheriff’s office wants to purchase bulletproof vests for newly hired deputies for the next two years.

The grant would also allow for the purchase of 20 protective plates and plate-holding vests for patrol deputies and criminal investigators. Allen said the plates would protect sheriff’s office personnel from rifle ammunition.

In other matters, the court took the following action:

— Approved the use of inmate labor to replace flags on poles for the Wills Point Rotary Club’s United States Flag community project.

— Authorized the sheriff’s office to obtain an estimate for work on a drainage problem in the county jail’s kitchen area.

— Approved the 2009 annual road report.

— Approved a budget amendment for county librarian Judy Morris.

— Tabled action on a final payment and payment of retainer to J. Houser Construction due to some unfinished items on the Van Zandt County Precinct 3 Office in Wills Point.