New patrol boat should arrive on LH before summer’s end

The Garland County Sheriff’s Department’s marine patrol hopes its new boat will be on Lake Hamilton by Labor Day weekend, County Judge Darryl Mahoney said.

An ordinance on the Garland County Quorum Court’s agenda Monday night appropriated $54,813 to the sheriff’s department’s boating safety fund from the $65,000 donation provided by a benefactor the county said has asked for anonymity. The money is paying for a 23-foot Xpress Bay Boat, Yamaha 250 XA motor and BackTrack Trailer.

The boat is on order and will replace the 1999 Boston Whaler Outrage the now-defunct Lake Hamilton Safe Boating Association donated. The aluminum-hulled Xpress Boats are manufactured locally at the county’s industrial park.

“Hopefully we’ll get it in a couple of weeks,” Mahoney said. “The supply chain has slowed so much with the coronavirus it’s taking a little bit longer to get things. Hopefully, we’ll get it in the next couple of weeks and get it serviced and get all the bugs worked out before the Labor Day weekend. We’re pretty anxious for that.”

According to an invoice provided to the quorum court, the boat cost $22,839, the motor $25,000 and trailer $3,500. Woody Futrell Marine & Aircraft was awarded the bid to sell and service the boat earlier this year. Mahoney said Futrell was the only bidder that met bid requirements.

“The other bidders did not meet a couple of requirements

on the packet, which was specifically spelled out for the needs of our marine patrol,” he said. “They didn’t meet the criteria, and they were notified of that.”

The county has said the anonymous benefactor donated $125,000 in total to the marine patrol. Last month, the quorum court appropriated $27,066 from the donation to buy a 2020 Yamaha XXL 300 horsepower motor, steel prop, gauges and controls for the patrol’s 2004 Outrage.

The two Boston Whalers, both donated by Lake Hamilton Safe Boating Association, patrolled the lake last year. The sheriff’s department said last month that both boats have had mechanical problems this year, temporarily pressing the patrol’s 2000 Cobia into service.

The $125,000 donation is the first substantial private-sector support the patrol has received since the January 2014 dissolution of the Lake Hamilton Safe Boating Association. The nonprofit raised money for the patrol and donated equipment, including the two Boston Whalers and the 2004 Baja the county sold at its surplus auction last July.

The department spent more than $36,000 maintaining the patrol’s fleet from 2014 to 2019, according to invoice and purchase orders the department provided earlier this year in response to a public records request. The department has been telling the quorum court for several years that flat funding and escalating costs have made it difficult for the patrol to maintain its presence on the lake.