February 26, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
The county commission is being asked to amend a plan put in place last month to fund a portion of the county’s emergency radio communication system upgrades.
According to 911 Director Brad Mullinax, who addressed the county commission in a committee of the whole meeting Thursday night, the proposed change would make the overall plan more cost effective and not require any extra commitment of funding from the county.
The commission is expected to formally act on the proposal during Monday night’s regular monthly meeting.
Under the arrangement approved by the county commission in January, a one- time expenditure of $1.2 million is to be made in a joint venture between the county and the 911 board to replace radios for the sheriff’s department and ambulance service through Motorola Solutions, except for the EMS mobile radios the state is going to fund. The Motorola radios are to be under warranty for seven years. The county and 911 are to split the cost at $600,000 each. Director Mullinax explained at the time that efforts would be made to apply for federal funding through FEMA’s Assistance to Fighters Grant for new fire department radios only.
Since then, after learning that the total project cost is less at $1.15 million instead of $1.2 million, Director Mullinax said he has come up with an even better plan under which the 911 board would agree to put an extra $100,000 toward the purchase of mobile radios for the county’s fire trucks, which can be bought for half price. Mullinax said he thought this would be a more preferable move after also learning that AFG grant funding might not be available for fire department mobile radios because they are no longer considered a high priority item under this grant program.
By ensuring that mobile radios can be funded through the agreement between the county and 911, Mullinax explained that an AFG grant application could be made on behalf of the county fire department as well as the Smithville and Alexandria Fire Departments as a collective group for the purchase of portable radios.
“We did a little more arm twisting with Motorola and have come up with a potential better solution that would not cost the county any more money above the $1.2 million already allocated including $600,000 from the county and $600,000 from 911. We are now able to secure funds to replace the mobile radios in the county fire engines for about half price,” said Director Mullinax. “We were looking at about an $8,000 per unit radio but if we buy them as part of this project it will cost us a little over $4,000 because of the discounts involved,” Mullinax explained. “I have talked with my 911 board members, and they have agreed to apply that $100,000 payment toward the purchase of the mobile radios for the county fire department in lieu of the portable radios, which Chief Donny Green and I are now applying for through an AFG grant. The county and city fire departments and EMS are eligible for grant funds (for portable radios) under the Assistance to Firefighters Grant program. We initially thought we were going to apply for mobile radios for the fire departments under this grant, but the AFG program changed criteria this year to make mobile radios and vehicle repeaters a medium priority item. Last year they were high priority. Regional grant consultants have cautioned us not to apply for medium priority grants because they might not be funded. Plans are to now make application as a collective group for portable radios for the fire departments through AFG instead of mobile radios,” said Mullinax.
“What we are now asking you (county commission) to do is to amend the plan for us to spend a total of $1.3 million instead of $1.2 million. 911 will come up with the extra $100,000 so we can get mobile radios at half price and not cost you (county) any more money. By doing this we can equip the county fire department with mobile radios in the fire engines,” added Mullinax.