The Lawrence County Commission opted late last week to hold off buying a requested 3 to 5 new cruisers for the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office.

“A dire need exists for cruisers to be purchased by this agency,” Sheriff Jeff Lawless said in a memo dated Jan. 5. “Please consider: out everyday fleet mileage average exceeds 143,000; seven cruisers used daily have at least 210,000.

In the memo, there were two payback options. If five cruisers are ordered, the initial payment would be $35,245. An annual payment on three cruisers would be $23,000.

Lawless said he thought the final 2007 payment for some of the older cruisers had been made. While first payment would come from the county general fund, future payments, Lawless said in his memo, could be made with the proceeds from the inmate jail telephone service. It is estimated the inmate phone account will accumulate $25,000-$32,000 over the next 12 months.

“I’d like to look at the fleet and see what we’ve got and set up a process,” Commissioner Jason Stephens said. “We were able to get four other cruisers at $100 a piece (recently).”

Lawless said he would put together a list and present it to the commission this week. Lawless said while those used squad cars have approximately 75,000 miles on them, Lawless conceded that is better than some of the cars he has on the road now.

In other matters, the commission agreed to send a letter to Ohio University Southern, asking if that entity, which videotapes the Ironton City Council meetings, might also videotape commission meetings in the future.

The suggestion to do this was made by Commissioner Les Boggs who said he enjoyed watching city council meetings on television.

The commission also agreed to explore all options for funding for the Union-Rome Sewer system. Commissioners said they are concerned that the $5 million in federal monies earmarked for the project could be in jeopardy given the recent federal bailouts.

The county had been counting on that money to help pay for the multi-million dollar project.

“It’s frustrating about the $5 million,” Commissioner Doug Malone said. “A lot of work went into that. Now it’s possible we may not get it.”

The commission was scheduled to meet this morning at 9:30 for its organization meeting.