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Snyder City Council approves $110,671.94 purchase of Panasonic Toughbooks for patrol cars

Snyder City Council · December 2, 2024

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Summary

The Snyder City Council unanimously approved purchase of Panasonic Toughbooks to replace aging 2016 iPads in patrol vehicles, citing compatibility problems since a move to a hosted computer‑aided dispatch system; staff said units could arrive in about 30–45 days but software setup may take several months.

SNYDER, Texas — The Snyder City Council on Dec. 2 approved the purchase of Panasonic Toughbooks from Mobile Communications America for $110,671.94 to replace outdated iPads used in police patrol vehicles.

A police department representative told the council the department began experiencing repeated failures after the city moved its computer‑aided dispatch (CAD) system to a hosted environment earlier in 2024. “We’ve had the iPads of 2016… we started having issues with our iPad,” the presenter said, adding that Panasonic provided trial Toughbooks over the last two months that have “been working great.” The presenter said the Toughbooks include features the department needs — for example, a driver‑license lookup that pulls a photo to confirm identity — that the iPads could not reliably support.

Council members asked about cost and procurement timing. Staff said the machines could arrive within roughly 30–45 days, but that the vendor and software vendor would need several additional months to install and configure required software before the units would be fully operational. Councilmembers also discussed leasing as an option; staff said a leasing scenario would cost about $27,000 more over five years.

The council made and seconded a motion to approve the purchase using DIR contract CPO 5225 and then voted unanimously to authorize the spending. Councilmembers and staff said the purchase had not been budgeted and that funding would be identified via year‑end adjustments and budget amendments if needed.

The purchase approval is procedural: staff will work with the vendor to schedule delivery and software installation and will return as required with any follow‑up budget amendments or implementation updates.