Manchester Continues Participation in Police Purchasing Cooperative

Manchester's on Monday evening approved a resolution that allows the police department to continue to purchase equipment and supplies through a pricing cooperative in Union County. 

Manchester will again be able to participate in the Cranford Police Cooperative Pricing System, which Chief of Police Brian Klimakowski said has been used by the department in past years.

"It's a buying group," Klimakowski said. "It's police vehicles, equipment, supplies, and it enables us to purchase straight out of that co-op without having to get three different bids."

Klimakowski said that purchasing through the cooperative saves the department time and money.

"They've basically done the groundwork and established the best price out front," he said.

The cooperative, which Manchester has utilized to purchase vehicles before, offers more options than a state cooperative program which has more rigid sales packages, Klimakowski said.

"They'll say, 'we'll give you a Ford [Crown Victoria] and it's going to have option A, B, C and D,' and that's basically how you'll buy the vehicle," he said.

The Cranford cooperative may have different configurations and vehicles, Klimakowski said.

"The state may only have Dodge and Ford, where Cranford might also have Chrysler," he said. "It gives us more options without us having to go out for bids. It's just another way to hopefully save some money and some legwork."

The resolution states that it goes into effect immediately upon passage by the township council.