The city will be using state funding to buy a Tesla electric vehicle as a patrol car for the Eupora Police Department through a pilot program.
The Board of Aldermen authorized its purchase during its Jan. 2 regular meeting. Ricky Newton (Ward 3) offered a motion to accept the lower of two quotes for the purchase of an electric police vehicle at a cost of $42,130 to be paid using state-appropriated funds. Junior Shaw (Ward 1) seconded the motion and it carried 4-0; Robert Gibbs (Ward 4) was absent.
Public Works Director Odie Avery said Sen. Bart Williams and Rep. Joey Hood, whose districts include Eupora, were instrumental in the city being appropriated that money. The EV will be a Tesla Model 3 that will be used as the EPD’s primary patrol car.
According to replies by former Mayor Blake McMullan and Janet Cook of Eupora Economic Development to questions and comments posted on social media last week, the state awarded the city $55,000 last year for a new police vehicle. McMullan posted this background information (edited for clarity):
“We had a grant in for a police vehicle applied for in 2019 with USDA (Rural Development); we weren’t sure it was going to get funded. The board decided not to wait and purchased a Dodge Ram pickup.
“In the meantime, Senator Bart Williams and I developed an idea to compare the cost between cities buying gas vehicles vs. electric. We got awarded 55K to purchase a police vehicle.
“The Tesla will cost taxpayers of the city $0; we got the funds from the state of Mississippi. Hopefully they (the city ) use it to compare the cost on the Dodge and the Tesla for five years and they could show the true cost to other cities.
“I am proud they (aldermen) went ahead and purchased it. They could have killed the whole program and purchased a Tahoe, but they didn’t.
“Since that time we also got awarded the 2019 police vehicle, so the fleet will have three new vehicles and it was very much needed.”
Cook said the Tesla Model 3 is cheaper than a Dodge Charger and Avery said the city is estimating about $6,000 in savings per year compared to a gas-powered vehicle. According to Cook, the annual cost of charging the car is estimated to be about $1,000 and the electric car’s range is 275 miles.
In related action, aldermen also accepted a quote from Mississippi Solar for an EV charging station at a cost of $1,742.25 to be paid from the same state-appropriated funds. It will be installed behind City Hall.
The board also authorized proceeding with the publication of a request for proposals for E-Force software and audiovisual equipment as detailed in the EPD’s Department of Justice/COPS Grant award.
Crawfish Festival
The board approved a one-time beer/alcohol permit for the Eupora Economic Development 501c3 to sell/consume alcoholic beverages at the 2024 Crawfish Festival. The festival will be April 13 at the Civic Center. Other Jan. 2 board business was reported in the Jan. 5 issue.
Parks and Recreation
The board authorized two Parks and Recreation requests. One was to use the Civic Center from 6-8 p.m. each Thursday from Jan. 11-March 14 for supervised youth basketball programming. This is free for those ages 5-12.
Also authorized was advertising the Dicks Sporting Goods “Sports Matters” stipend program for families to use to offset registration fees for youth sports programming.
The board also discussed reported issues with some campers having parked in sites that other campers had prepaid for at Whites Creek Lake Campground. The possibility of having a campground host was mentioned.
Street Department
Billy Tabb (Ward 2) said a citizen had expressed concerns to him about the steep steps on the “high side” of Main Street, referring to those on the west side of North Dunn downtown.
The alderman asked if the city could look into changing the slope of the steps and having one-way parking along that street. He also asked how much of the work the city could do if such a project eventually gets the go-ahead.
Avery said he understood that Belinda Stewart Architects was already working up drawings for this and that the concerned citizen planned to pay the firm’s fee for doing so. Avery also said he was researching the possibility of tying this proposed work into an application for a grant to fund new sidewalks. He said the grant application would require engineering services.
“It’s time to revitalize Main Street as much as possible,” Tabb said.
Public Comments
City resident LaVon Manuel read a statement and asked the board questions about the increase in water rates and the tourism tax. Regarding the water rates, Tabb responded that residents in many towns can’t even drink the water because water system is so old.
“If we don’t keep it (the water system) up, we won’t be able to drink (the water),”he said. “We have good, clean water. … Our water system is out of date. We want to keep the water system up but … it costs a lot of money to keep it up (in part because of increased fuel and equipment costs).”
Board members approved the minutes from the Nov. 30 agenda work session, Dec. 4 regular meeting, Dec. 8 special-called meeting and Dec. 18 recessed meeting. They also approved the claims docket.
This was the first regular meeting at which new Mayor Lamar Dumas presided since winning a special election runoff Dec. 5; he presided over special-called and recessed meetings in December. The Board of Aldermen was to meet again for a recessed meeting Thursday night, which was postponed from Tuesday because of weather conditions. Its next regular meeting is 6 p.m. Feb. 5.
