Dougherty County Administrator Richard Crowdis explains laptop costs

ALBANY — Acknowledging the public response that a story in last week’s Albany Herald has generated, County Administrator Richard Crowdis addressed on Monday the purchase of 13 laptop computers approved by the Dougherty County Commission at its business meeting Dec. 1.

When the commission was asked to OK the purchase of the 13 laptops from Dell for $64,025.91, computers that would be used by EMS, District 6 Commissioner Jack Stone questioned the cost of the instruments. “Thirteen laptops shouldn’t cost near that much,” Stone said.

When Commission Chairman Jeff Sinyard explained that the computers are “specific to what (EMS) does,” Stone relented and voted along with the other six commissioners to approve the purchase.

Since, a number of citizens have contacted commission members expressing their concern, and the topic has become a hot one in The Herald’s Squawkbox feature. That sparked Crowdis’ comments Monday.

“The Panasonics (that had been used by EMS) do not meet the requirements of our emergency personnel,” Crowdis said. “All of our other emergency responders (use computers) on a Dell platform. One of the primary problems with the Panasonics is that they are not compatible with our Criminal Justice Information System, which connects our emergency personnel. The Dells are.

“Also, with the Panasonics, if we have a problem with them, we have to ship them to the company. They are very complicated and are usually out of service up to a week before we get them back. Dell has a 24-7 guarantee; they have the computers back within 24 hours.”

Crowdis also noted that the Panasonic computers had a life expectancy of around three years, while the Dell laptops last up to five years.

“People look at buying laptops for 300, 400, 500 dollars and they wonder why these are so expensive,” Sinyard said of the units that cost right at $5,000 each. “This involves hardware and software. And, I might add, the Panasonics are not cheap. They cost somewhere around $3,000.”

Crowdis said after the meeting the Panasonic units actually cost the county around $2,800 each.

District 1 Commissioner Lamar Hudgins, who chairs the commission’s Finance Committee, offered an argument in support of the enhanced computers.

“If I’m having health problems, I want the best computer possible if EMS is working on me,” Hudgins said. “This is money that’s well spent.”

After hearing the explanation from Crowdis, Stone said he was satisfied with the purchase.

“I know I wasn’t at the work session where they discussed those laptops, but that just seemed like a lot of money to me,” he said. “And then when that story came out in the paper, I started getting all kinds of calls from people wanting to know about the cost of those laptops. Even my wife said something to me about it.

“But I think Richard and Jeff explained the situation well today. I’m satisfied with what they said.”