ONTARIO — Ontario City Council committed $50,000 towards the purchase of an armored rescue vehicle during its Wednesday night meeting.
The Lenco BearCat G3 vehicle would replace a simpler model purchased in 2008 and be used by the Allied Special Operations Response Team.
ASORT consists of specially-trained law enforcement officers from departments across Richland County. The group handles situations like hostage negotiations, raids, rescues, and hazardous search warrants at the request of a police chief or county sheriff.
Mansfield Police Chief Keith Porch told council members the original BearCat was purchased after a 2007 incident in which an off-duty city police officer was shot and killed while trying to provide medical assistance to a wounded citizen, who also died. The ASORT team was deployed but unable to reach them.
“We could not get to them to render assistance, to get them out of the hot zone and to get them medical attention,” he said.
Porch called the BearCat vehicle a “game changer” and told council members he was confident it had saved officers’ lives. He estimated it has been shot at least 22 times and taken fire at least six.
“We’re approaching 16 years of our current BearCat, so I did not want to get into a situation where we run the wheels off of it and then our team is left without this vital piece of equipment,” he said.
Porch said Lenco has agreed to sell a new four-door model to ASORT at the demo model price of $342,539. The quote is good though June 4 and Porch said it would take about a year from the date of purchase to get the vehicle.
Porch added that he’d tried for the last four or five years to secure grant funding from the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, but was unsuccessful.
Ontario’s contribution would secure the final share of funding need for the vehicle. Richland County Commissioners and the City of Mansfield have each committed $96,269.50 for the vehicle. Shelby City Council has yet to vote, but its safety committee intends to propose a $50,000 contribution.
Porch said multiple municipalities in the area are interested in purchasing the current model for $50,000 each. He added the city of Mansfield has also committed to covering the vehicle’s insurance and maintenance costs.
At-large councilman Dave Rehfeldt said he supported the measure, but expressed frustration with smaller municipalities that hadn’t offered to help cover the cost.
“We’re 80 days into the process before we hear about it. I’m disappointed that we’re getting it this late,” he said. “I think the cities that didn’t respond to you should be ripped to shreds in the newspaper.”
Third ward councilwoman Sherry Branham asked if neighboring mayors were aware of the chief’s request. He told council he’d only communicated with area police chiefs.
“As I told the chiefs, I understand everybody has budgets and some are more fortunate than others,” he said. “(I said) if you can contribute, please contribute, and I left it there.”
Branham asked about extras that could be added on to the base model if more funding was available. Porch said there are add-ons that would allow for thermal imaging technology and a firefighting water canon.
“If you have a standoff and somebody decides to light the house on fire, to burn themselves up, normally the fire department will not deploy into a hot zone,” he said.
“We currently have Fire and EMS personnel on our SWAT team that could immediately take over to douse the fire so we could prevent loss of life from individual actions inside.”
Porch said the water canon alone would cost around $40,000.
“We tried to be reasonable with this request and not ask for every bell and whistle,” he added.
Nevertheless, the new base model would still be an upgrade. Porch said the G3 has four doors instead of two and better off-roading capabilities.
“We asked the SWAT team to do a tough job and they have stepped up for us big time, every step of the way,” he concluded. “That job is tough and we should be able to provide the best tools available for them to do that job in the safest way possible.”
Deer Feeding
Council also discussed a proposed ordinance to prohibit feeding deer within the city.
The measure was presented earlier this month after a woman expressed concern about emboldened and aggressive deer approaching residents and pets.
Craig Hunt, a regular attendee of city council meetings, said he was torn about whether or not to support the ordinance.
“Some deer need help in the wintertime, feed, to get through,” he said. “Especially after they’ve been shot or hit by a car.”
Tom Wilson, a 25-year resident of Ontario, said he supports the ordinance.
“I have been involuntarily feeding the deer thousands of dollars of landscaping plants,” he joked. “About 15 years ago, several different families in the neighborhood starting feeding deer. After that we had herds of them going through the neighborhood.”
Wilson said he’d heard of three separate incidents of people walking their dogs and being aggressively approached by wild animals.
Council president Eddie Gallo said as a hunter and a conservationist, he was torn.
“You’ve got to balance safety issues with personal freedoms and things like that,” he said.
Gallo said he does plan to amend the ordinance so that residents who have permission to bow hunt on their property can continue feeding deer in those areas.
Rehfeldt said he didn’t understand why the ordinance was necessary.
“One person shows up and now it’s an issue,” he said. “We’re lucky to live in a place where you have wildlife in your area.
“I just don’t see the problem. I kinda like looking at them.”
The public will have one more chance to voice their opinions on the matter at the next council meeting on June 7. Council will vote on the measure after the public comment period.
In other business, council voted Wednesday to increase the monthly administrative fee for city water and sewer from $1.25 to $2 per customer.
