Explanation
BACKGROUND: This ordinance authorizes the Director of Public Safety to dispose and destroy the Division of Police’s Used/Expired Body Armor and enter into contract with Fiber Brokers/Brent Industries to provide this service at no cost. No other agencies can benefit from the expired body armor as it has reached is usefulness and cannot be worn with the utmost guarantee of protection. The destruction of this armor will render the armor useless and allows the material to be recycled instead of placed in landfill. The armor will not breakdown so Fiber Brokers located in Brent, Alabama offers a shredding service to law enforcement agencies and military without cost. Fiber Brokers subsidiary company Brent Industries will pick up, transfer, and recycle the Kevlar and use it in vehicle parts, gloves, ropes, and similar items. The recycled Kevlar is not used in the manufacturing of new body armor.
Fiber Brokers/Brent Industries will shred all ballistic panels and provide the Division of Police with a destruction certification letter that contains the serial numbers of all the ballistic panels they destroyed on behalf of the Division of Police. Fiber Brokers has been providing this service to military and law enforcement for many years. The Division of Police confirmed that the US Marshall Service has used Fiber Brokers shredding service for the past seven years without incident.
Emergency Designation: Emergency legislation is requested so the Division of Police can properly dispose of the body armor and relieve space within the Division of Police Property Room.
FISCAL IMPACT: There is no fiscal impact to the City of Columbus.
Title
To authorize and direct the Director of Public Safety to dispose and destroy the Division of Police used/expired body armor and to enter into contract with Fiber Brokers/Brent Industries to provide said service at no cost, and to waive the relevant provisions of Chapter 329 relating to the Sale of City Owned Personal Property; and to declare an emergency.
Body
WHEREAS, the Columbus Division of Police has a need to dispose and destroy used/expired body armor; and
WHEREAS, the Columbus Division of Police has approximately 2,000-4,000 sets of used/expired body armor; and
WHEREAS, no City of Columbus Government Agency or other law enforcement agency can accept the used/expired body armor; and
WHEREAS, it is in the City's best interest to waive the relevant provisions of Chapter 329 relating to the Sale of City Owned Personal Property; and
WHEREAS, Fiber Brokers/Brent Industries can shred and recycle the body armor and recycle the unusable Kevlar body armor to keep it out of landfills; and
WHEREAS, an emergency exists in the usual daily operation of the Department of Public Safety, Division of Police, in that it is immediately necessary to authorize the Director to enter into contract with Fiber Brokers/Brent Industries for the disposal and destruction of the body armor and keep the unusable Kevlar body for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, property, safety and welfare; now, therefore
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS:
SECTION 1. That the Director of Public Safety be and is hereby authorized and directed to enter into contract with Fiber Brokers/Brent Industries for the disposal and destruction of the Division of Police body armor.
SECTION 2. That this Council finds it to be in the best interests to waive the relevant provisions of Chapter 329 of City Code relating to the Sale of City-Owned Personal Property, to permit the destruction and recycling of the Kevlar body armor by Fiber Brokers/Brent Industries.
SECTION 3. That for the reasons stated in the preamble hereto, which is hereby made a part hereof, this ordinance is hereby declared an emergency measure and shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and approval by the Mayor, or ten days after passage if the Mayor neither approves nor vetoes the same.