Brazos County commission unanimously approves buying cameras that read license plates after discussing where they are purchased

This podcast contains comments from the December 16, 2025 Brazos County commission meeting.Brazos County commissioners at its December 16th meeting approved the purchase of cameras that read license plates for the sheriff's office.But before the unanimous vote of the nearly $76,000 dollar purchase, was commissioner Fred Brown's opposition to buying the equipment through the education service center in Austin.Click HERE to read and download information about the license plate camera from the December 16, 2025 Brazos County commission meeting.Brown said "if they're involved in our county business there's a kickback that somebody's getting. They're getting a commission off of this if they're going through us."Brown, who preferred buying equipment directly from the manufacturer, also said he "looked at this (education service centers) with a jaundiced eye that why are we paying them extra money."The county's purchasing director, Charles Wendt, said the education service center in Austin "allows us economies of scale in some instances and saves us on the administrative side."What Brown referred to as a commission or kickback, Wendt described that as an "administrative fee" of one or one and a half percent "to pay for the purchasing people, the audits, (and) the lawyers who write the contracts" among other things. Wendt also said when possible, they will compare the prices of multiple purchasing cooperatives to get the best deal.