Shawnee County Commissioner Bob Archer said Monday he felt irritated because Shawnee County needed to spend nearly $36,000 “to thwart low-life thieves” instead of on trails or parks equipment.
Still, Archer joined Commissioners Kevin Cook and Shelly Buhler in voting 3-0 to earmark that amount to buy a security system aimed specifically at deterring the theft of copper from baseball and softball fields at Dornwood Park, 2500 S.E. Highland.
“It’s unfortunate that we have to have to spend money on something reluctantly like this,” Buhler said.
Commissioners voted to use contingency funds to spend $35,982.04 to make the sole-source purchase of a security pulse system for the Dornwood Field lights from an Olathe-based company called Elecsys and to spend $9,933.13 to repair damage to lights resulting from copper thefts at Dornwood and at Shawnee North Community Center, 300 N.E. 43rd.
Monday’s vote came after Cook noted at a commission meeting last week that the theft in July of an estimated $200 worth of copper from the Kansas Expocentre grounds would ultimately cost the county about $100,000.
(Read more: News – The Topeka Capital-Journal)