January 20, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
New plan, new offer!
During a special called meeting Friday, the DeKalb Emergency Communications District (911) Board voted to offer up a new proposal to partner with the county in funding the purchase of a new $2.3 million radio communication system for emergency services under a 10-year lease between 911 and Motorola Solutions.
Under the plan, as recommended by 911 Director Brad Mullinax, the ECD (911) would lease the equipment from Motorola on behalf of the county and make a $300,000 down payment. 911 would also make an annual payment of $300,000 in the year 2025 and 2026 for a total investment of $900,000 on the $2.3 million deal. The county government would then be responsible for making the remaining $260,000 annual payments starting in the year 2027 and going forward until the lease is satisfied. Under this arrangement, the county would make its payments through an annual contribution to 911, which would have the lease with Motorola. The 911 board has given the county up until February 19 for an answer or else the proposal would be withdrawn. 911 Director Mullinax said time is of the essence because Motorola’s price for the new system will increase by 10% in March.
Unlike the alternative $1.2 million plan discussed Friday night, January 12 during a special called meeting of the county commission, this new $2.3 million proposal is essentially the same as the initial plan pitched to the county a month ago except this is a 10 year lease agreement and not a seven year financing package to purchase the system, and according to 911 Director Mullinax it would better serve the county’s needs.
Since the county commission has concerns about adding debt from a new radio communication upgrade with infrastructure projects including a judicial center or jail on the horizon, Mullinax urged 911 to offer the county a little extra in funding this $2.3 million proposal.
“One of the major holdups with the county on this plan is that they don’t have the cash to buy it and they are not interested in doing finance options because it may affect their bond rating for future capital projects, so I have done some figuring,” said Mullinax. “We (911) are setting on about $1.6 million in reserves in our certificates of deposit so I am proposing that we step up to the plate a little more from the 911 perspective and see if we can help them (county) fund this project. I talked to Quinn Sheradon of Motorola Solutions this morning (Friday) and there is going to be a 10% increase in radio prices after March 6 when this deal expires. We must have it done by February 19 if we are going to do this because we have to get lease agreements signed and everything in place within that time frame.”
“The deal I am proposing is the $2.3 million option,” said Mullinax. “We (911) will pay the $300,000 down for the county and then we would pay an additional $600,000 toward the project. We will make the first two payments which would give them (county) three years to figure out a funding source. If we pay the $300,000 down, you are looking at a $260,000 per year commitment from the county commission. That would totally fix the project and fund everything including the rest of what EMS needs, as well as the rescue squad, sheriff’s department, and county fire”.
The 911 board voted unanimously to adopt Director Mullinax’s recommendation. Board members voting in favor were Josh Tramel, Jeff Barnes, Sabrina Farler, Jerry Scott, Beth Chandler, Chris Russell, and Travis Bryant.
The county commission is expected to discuss the proposal during Monday night’s regular monthly meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Mike Foster Multipurpose Center.
Mullinax said the 911’s auditor advised against the $1.2 million plan because it called for the 911 board to enter into a contract with Motorola rather than the county with each party co-funding the project for up to seven years through a finance plan. The auditor had no problem, however with 911 entering into a 10 year lease with Motorola since the agreement would have a termination option.
“We (911) were going to be charged with financing the ($1.2 million) deal for the county. After some discussion with my auditor, she did not think that was a good idea,” Mullinax explained. “However, things have changed. We found out more information about the lease as of this morning (Friday). It is truly a lease and not a finance option. There are annual payments like a finance option, but you have the ability to terminate the agreement at any time and return the equipment back to Motorola. That changed the position of the auditor. She is more appeased with that plan. In fact she has no problem with it at all. She recommended that I call the Tennessee Emergency Communications Board and talk to staff there and I have done that this morning. The TECB director Curtis Sutton said that as long as we have an interlocal agreement with the county then we can fund radio purchases and or lease,” said Mullinax.
Another concern, Mullinax explained is that the $1.2 million alternative plan would not meet all the radio communication needs required.
“We found out some new information. The county fire department doesn’t have as many digital radios as we first thought and that is problematic because that analogue equipment still has to be maintained and we can’t maintain it,” said Mullinax. “The second problem is it includes no portable radios for the rescue squad which means we have to maintain the EMS frequency. The final problem was that we did not include vehicle repeaters for the sheriff’s department so his detectives, chief deputy, and litter crew don’t have vehicle repeaters and they can’t gateway back into the TACN system which means we have to maintain the sheriff’s department frequency. Honestly, after we did some thinking, calculating and reviewing, we concluded this ($1.2 million plan) is not a very good option,” said Mullinax.
“The $2.3 million deal is the way to go,” Mullinax continued. “ Its really the minimum of where we need to be, but it is a viable option with the vehicle repeaters in place for it to work. To build out radio sites the average is about $1.2 or $1.5 million for a tower and all the equipment to go in it and we can’t build enough sites in this county to get proper coverage. If we lived in Coffee County where it is flat, we could put up a couple of sites and be good to go but that is not an option here. That’s the reason for the vehicle repeaters,” said Mullinax.
If the county accepts the 911 proposal, Mullinax is urging the county to continue budgeting annually to have available funds for radio replacements after the warranty expires. “Once this is paid off, I would not pull this $260,000 out of the budget ever. I would leave it in there. Once its funded, let it be funded. Divide that up among the agencies based on their radio count and give them money to replace their radios annually. They won’t need to replace them for at least seven years anyway because they are under warranty. We don’t have to worry about that for the foreseeable future but at some point, the radios will need to be replaced. I would recommend leaving that money in the budget. If you (county) want us to handle it (replacing radios), you could pay that capital expense to 911 and let us track them and be responsible for them. That money could come to us and we would replace the radios,” said Mullinax.
For years, the DeKalb County government has operated with a radio system made up of conventional analog technology to communicate between central dispatch and local law enforcement agencies, fire departments, EMS, and rescue squad. But over time, the system’s technology has become antiquated and more unreliable. According to 911 Director Mullinax, the time has come for the county to invest in a new system upgrade. In previous meetings, Mullinax has urged the county commission to update the county’s mobile, portable, and fixed radio transmission technology (replacing approximately 160 portables, 75 vehicle repeaters, and 73 mobile radios) and to join the Tennessee Advanced Communications Network (TACN) which provides first responders the ability to have additional coverage to talk on the radio with surrounding state communication towers during major events and disasters no matter where they (first responders) are located.
The question still to be answered is how the county would fund its portion of the 911 proposal.” We have a lot of different things to look at in our budget this year including salary increases, housing inmates in other counties, so it will be tough for sure this year,” said County Mayor Matt Adcock.