During the departmental reports portion of Monday evening’s Dallas County Commission meeting, County Engineer Coosa Jones brought forth the recommendation to lease a new sidecutter machine for the county.

“I think we better go ahead and lease this equipment rather than spending this much cash on it,” said Jones. “That’ll free us up to buy some other things that we need. I think that’s the way to go.”

“I don’t see a problem with that,” agreed Commissioner Roy Moore.

Commissioner Valerie Reubin inquired what the monthly payment to lease the machine would be, and wondered aloud if it would be better just to purchase the machine.

According to Jones, the piece of equipment will cost the county $3,266.41 per month.

Upon hearing the monthly payment for the sidecutter, Reubin opined that the piece of equipment should be purchased outright.

“I feel like we ought to just go ahead and buy it,” she said.

Jones said earlier in the meeting that the total cost for the machine was $182,500.

Dallas County Probate Judge Jimmy Nunn agreed with the County Engineer, saying that the county could use the money saved by leasing the machine to handle unforeseen problems in the future.

“That clears up money just in case we have things come up,” said Nunn.

Following Jones’ presentation, the commission unanimously approved the recommendation to lease the sidecutter.

Following the County Engineer’s report, Dallas County Environmental Service Director Kevin Edwards once again brought up the need for security cameras at the Orrville waste transfer station located at the intersection of County Road 3 and County Road 33.

Edwards delivered to the commission a quote regarding a potential lease agreement for a security camera from Flock Safety that would cost the county $2,000 per year, per camera.

Edwards added that the cost included hardware, software and installation of the equipment.

If the camera were installed, offenders could be tracked down through the tag number of their vehicle.

Edwards stated that after tag numbers were handed over to the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department, warrants would then be placed for the offender’s arrest.

“We need to do something about this,” added County Commissioner Larry Nickles.

Dallas County Attorney John Kelley interjected that goods and services cannot be paid for in advance by the county, if the county were to go with Flock Safety for the security camera, then a contract with monthly payments must be available.

Edwards then said he would discuss a monthly payment option with the company and then later share the information with the commission.

In closing Monday’s meeting, Nunn thanked the commission for attending last week’s budget hearings.

“We really did a wonderful job coming together,” he said.

Nunn the commended County Administrator Barbra Harrell for a wonderful job working on the proposed budget.

“We appreciate her doing this and hopefully we will have a budget passed on time, as we have in the past,” he said.