1981-02-18 Joint Public Hearing - Laserfiche WebLink

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• • Joint Public Hearing, La Porte City Council and the Planning & Zoning Commission, February 18, 1981, Page 4 paid $15,000 a year and being sent out in vehicles with bald tires. He made reference to cities in surrounding areas who assign vehicles to officers,. the vehicle is taken home at night and is completely maintained by that officer. He suggested possibly this would afford better maintenance at a lesser cost to the City. Mr. Biarnesen further charged that City police cars are not "specked out"; he explained that by that he meant they were not special police cars with heavy duty electrical systems, heavy duty suspension systems and calibrated speedometers. Biarnesen stated he examined the car which had been in- volved in a wreck on Tuesday, February 3. He found the odometer showing more than 70,000 miles and with two tires which didn't even match. He then related a story of a police officer attempting to stop a truck for a minor violation. When. finally stopped, he said the sea gull on the car had him fooled - he didn't think it was a police car. Biarnesen questioned where the sea gull idea came from and stated before anything so fool- . ish was put on the City equipment he thought the people of La Porte should have something to say about it. He stated it embarrassed him. He said they looked like the game warden's vehicle. City Manager J. R. Hudgens made a couple of comments. First of all, the 1979 Dodge that was wrecked at 4th and Main had had its speedometer replaced and when wrecked had a reading of 15,914 miles on it. We have bought several other Dodges the same time and the highest one is currently 69,000 miles. In addition. to that, he stated all of the City's vehicles are scheduled to the garage once a month; this is not for repairs, this is regular maintenance. Each system is checked for possible problems. During the month of February the City spent some $9,000 in maintenance and repairs; this is windshield wipers, brakes, tires, oil changes and such. He stated he wished to advise the gentleman that the City does "speck" the police cars. They are special police packages and have been since 1978. 3. City Council took under consideration the recommendation from Planning & Zoning concerning rezoning Outlots 90 and 90 Z. City Attorney Knox Askins read: AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE N0. 780, THE CITY OF LA PORTE ZONING ORDINANCE, BY CHANGING THE CLASSIFICATION OF THAT CERTAIN PARCEL OF LAND HEREIN DESCRIBED; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE HEREOF.