Nye County OKs purchase of 130 Tasers

The Nye County Sheriff’s Office will get new Tasers after county commissioners approved joining the five-year Intergovernmental Purchasing Agreement that will allow purchasing of the devices from Scottsdale, Arizona-based Axon Enterprise, Inc.

Under a five-year contract with Axon that was approved by Nye County commissioners, the county will purchase 130 Tasers, as well as replacement Taser cartridges. The quote of $359,573.50 will be funded from the Nye County Sheriff Public Safety Sales Tax.

At the Oct. 3 meeting, Nye County Sheriff Sharon Wehrly told commissioners that the current Tasers are “out-of-date” and her office can’t find parts for them.

“The Tasers that we’ve had had a lifespan of about 15 years,” Wehrly said.

Commissioners Donna Cox and Butch Borasky questioned if the Nye County Sheriff’s Office could still use the current Tasers.

“Some of them were about 15 years old, other ones are six to seven (years old),” Wehrly said.

Wehrly said the Nye County Sheriff’s Office didn’t put out a bid for a contract but received several quotes from other companies. She didn’t specify the amounts of the other quotes.

“We tried several other manufacturers, and all of the quotes were above what Taser would give us,” Wehrly said.

Nye County District Attorney Angela Bello said a bidding process was not required for a contract under state law.

“This isn’t required to go out to bid because we are piggybacking on another governmental contract, which is permitted under NRS,” Bello said.

A governing body or its authorized representative and the state of Nevada may join or use the contracts of local governments located within or outside this state with the authorization of the contracting vendor.

The original contracting local government is not liable for the obligations of the governmental entity which joins or uses the contract, according to the documents.

The contract was approved 4-1, as Cox was the only commissioner who voted against it.

Contact reporter Daria Sokolova at dsokolova@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @dariasokolova77