Police Department Maintenance Contracts "A Relief" to Public Works

It was a long road to getting the new Hamden Police Department in the old Memorial Town Hall up and running, and in that time, the warranties on much of the equipment purchased for the new facility ran out, some before the equipment was even removed from the boxes.

That has meant that Public Works employees have been charged with maintaining the equipment, which has taken its toll on that department.

"Our maintenance staff has spend about 40 percent of its time ironing out the problems," said Public Works Director Craig Cesare during the Legislative Council's Public Safety and Protection Committee meeting Monday night. "These contracts will alleviate that."

The committee Monday approved an air conditioning service agreement with McQuay Air Conditioning Services for $11,500, and there are more to come, Police Chief Tom Wydra said. The agreement now needs the approval of the full council, which is expected at its monthly meeting on Monday.

"It will be a relief to get these into someone else's hands," Cesare said. He had sent a list of what was needed in the contracts, and for the most part those recommendations were included in the contracts, he said.

The warranties on almost all of the new equipment in the department has now expired, Cesare said. Because of construction problems, the process was drawn out, and some of the equipment wasn't running when they expired, he said.

"There was a lot of debate" surrounding the project, he said, and "some stuff was delivered and sat in the box for a year and a half and the warranty expired."

The approval of service contracts will solve a lot of problems for his department, Cesare said, freeing up employee time that should be spent elsewhere.