Clay County Emergency Manager Haley Malone presented a proposal for a new radio system to the Clay County Board of Supervisors at their meeting Tuesday, June 11.
Malone was accompanied by Doug Ostergard, with First Wireless out of Lincoln, who would be the company working on the system, and John McKee, the Jefferson and Saline County Emergency Manager whose counties already have the system.
The proposal is for a new, improved radio system through Motorola (often referred to as Mototurbo) that would be used by law enforcement, fire and rescue, and the roads department.
Together, Malone and Ostergard proposed about one million dollars; however, Malone said this was a very rough estimate and was a worst-case scenario dollar amount.
Included in the cost would be the system itself, installation, 200 radios for fire and rescue, and 70 radios for roads/weed departments. There is also the possibility of a microwave to transmit signals between each site, if needed.
Additionally, the system includes four sites, but Malone said there’s a chance the county will only need three.
The current system being used is mostly analog, with only law enforcement using digital. Their radios were upgraded this year at the sheriff’s office and police departments in Harvard and Sutton.
Issues with the current system include officers and fire and rescue not being able to use their handheld radios when at a scene. The roads department has also had issues calling in, in certain coverage areas.
Sometimes, the connection is lost entirely and dispatch is unable to hear anything called in, or vice versa.
This is especially true in Harvard, Deweese, and any area along the county border.
“We’re not unique with our problems,” Malone said, noting how other counties have had the same issues.
Recently, Adams County approved their new system project, and Fillmore County is working on approving theirs. With the addition of a new system in Clay County, as well as the same system in neighboring counties, this will allow for more interoperability between different county agencies, and provide redundancy for the dispatch center.
Having worked with the system for a few years now, McKee said with any system there will be tweaks needed to be addressed, but since moving to the new system their communication has been better.
“It’s clear, no static,” McKee said in terms of service and calls coming in. “I’ve heard a lot of positives.”
The lack of clear communication due to radio issues has been a frustration not only for dispatch, but those who use the radios to call in.
On the dispatch side of things, sometimes calls are not received or hard to hear, so those people are either calling or texting dispatch or Malone directly.
“It’s not efficient,” Malone said. The new system would also increase the channels available to talk on, and make conversations more fluid.
Malone and Ostergard explained that currently if there’s an incident happening, each organization is on its own line and another organization cannot hear what they are saying.
If there is a need for backup or more assistance at a fire, for example, those entities have to go through dispatch, who then contact others and then relay to the original entity that help is coming.
With the new system, everyone will be able to hear those calls come through, increasing the chance of help arriving sooner.
“Essentially, we’re a large group working together on a system,” Ostergard said.
Overall, increasing safety is the biggest goal for Malone, but it’s not her only one.
“My goal isn’t to just make the system good enough, but to work with people that will help bring these departments into the future,” she said.
The new system would be implemented on existing towers, so new ones won’t need to be built, reducing cost.
Responses from supervisors were supportive of the system, but they had some questions.
Supervisor Dick Shaw asked if the system would hold up.
“I’m not opposed to it, but I want to make sure it’s not going to be where we’re not going to make it past 10 years and need to change systems again,” Shaw said.
McKee said over the years he purchased things such as radios or microwaves, so when they switched over to this new system, their cost was significantly reduced, which is a good way to keep any possible future costs down.
“No matter what, just like with everything, there will be things to update and fix,” he said.
The overall impression between McKee and Ostergard was that even though they’re not sure of what was in store for technology in the future, they’re positive the system was going to last for several years.
Supervisor Ivan Fintel also noted if they don’t upgrade, they’re still going to have expenses with the current system. He added how getting new radios to replace old ones is going to cost in the $300,000 range.
L. Wayne Johnson, supervisor chairman, said their first priority is to protect citizens, but wondered what advantage having the new system would bring.
Malone said that while there haven’t been any deaths within law enforcement or other entities in the county, they don’t want to wait for a situation to become worse and that happens.
With clear communication, assistance can be to a scene faster, especially since calls won’t go unheard or needing to go through various channels to call for said assistance. It adds to the efficiency of all involved.
Supervisors gave the green light to get more finite numbers and costs to bring back to a future meeting.
