New Atlanta ballpark gets needed public safety, vehicle help for first pitch

U.S. Communities—SunTrust Park

“We really value the trust and confidence that Cobb County has placed in our company and in our contract,” says Rick Bond, Vice President of Sales for Safeware. Rick and Clint Anderson, Southeast Branch Director for Safeware, were part of the planning meetings and attribute the success to a strong relationship with the Cobb County Police Department and Bill Thomas’ understanding of the Safeware contract.

The situation with Cobb County was not new to the Safeware experts. Having used their U.S. Communities contract on high profile events with the Democratic National Committee, the Republican National Committee, and most recently, the presidential Inauguration Day, they are accustomed to fulfilling large orders with a limited timeline — it’s one of the benefits of using a cooperative contract. “Major events like this require many months of detailed and intensive planning, and once the budget gets approved and the equipment is selected, the window of time to make the purchase can be very limited,” Bond says.

Thomas and Joe Tommie also met with Brian Skinner from Specialty Car Company, their local Club Car dealer. They outlined their public safety team’s vehicle requirements and how they intended to use the vehicles. Skinner was able to recommend the purchase of two Villager eight-passenger transportation vehicles to meet their needs of shuttling the on-site public safety officials to various posts throughout the stadium. An additional advantage for Cobb County was the ability to use the local Club Car dealer. Going forward, being able to service and maintain the Club Car vehicles locally will be a convenience and time-savings.

As with the Safeware purchase, the delivery of the Club Car vehicles was tight. Delivery would typically take 5-6 weeks, but Cobb County needed them at the stadium in time for the soft opening – only four weeks away. Club Car was able to expedite the order and Specialty Car Company had them delivered within the four weeks. “If Cobb County had to do an RFP, they would not have been able to meet that deadline. Using the U.S. Communities contract saved everyone time, money and effort to meet the demands for the soft opening,” states David Peterson, Strategic Account Manager for Club Car.

As leaders in best practice purchasing, Joe Tommie, Bill Thomas and the purchasing team at Cobb County knew the most resourceful and cost-effective way to proceed in such a tight time frame. With their knowledge of how to strategically use cooperative contracts, they were able to work with Safeware and Club Car to meet the needed deadlines and make the project a success.

Safeware’s Rick Bond summarizes the successful completion of this project: “The real heroes in these events are the folks in public safety who work countless hours to make the process seamless and safe. We feel validated each time that we see a successful event in the news and realize the small part that our Safeware team, our experience, and our U.S. Communities contract played in the success.”

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