ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
The Seward County Emergency Communications Center will soon be receiving some new equipment to help with its operations.
At their March 17 meeting, county commissioners approved unanimously the purchase of used, but like new MCCC 7500 Elite Dispatch console equipment from the Garden City Police Department for $75,000.
Communications Director Pam Johnson said four radios were purchased in 2019, and as a new location and expansion of the center have been researched, leaders learned current communication models are no longer being built.
“In order to purchase a new console, it does not coincide, or it’s not compatible with our current configuration,” she said.
This is when local communications officials came across information about used radio equipment from GCPD, and Johnson said this is when the $75,000 price tag was negotiated.
“Motorola is in the process of getting information of how much it would cost to purchase the side pieces,” she said. “With what we were able to find from our customer service person, he was only able so far to give me prices on two of the parts, and those match what the prices were in 2019.”
Johnson said she is confident the remaining parts would be less than $10,000 for the future, and this would add $5,500 to the county’s system upgrade agreement with Motorola.
Commission Vice Chairman Steve Helm asked what the life expectancy of the used equipment would be.
“Every four years, Motorola comes around and upgrades all the equipment to new, and that was supposed to happen this year,” Johnson said. “The system we bought in 2019 is still like brand new. Most of it’s computer stuff. The SUA is paid annually from county and city. That’s part of what we have in our budget. It’s upgraded each year or each cycle.”
Johnson said at the Communications Board’s February meeting, board members agreed unanimously to go with the $75,000 equipment from Garden City PD.
“They had originally asked for $93,000, but we negotiated down,” she said.
Commission Chairman Scott Carr said getting the equipment would be contingent upon the Communications Center being moved to a new office area and increasing staff by one employee. He asked where the county was in that process.
Neither Johnson nor Administrator April Warden had received final pricing on a new office. Johnson said the plan still calls for five positions in the center.
“It makes sense now to buy it, and they’ll still upgrade it whether or not it’s in service,” Johnson said. “They have this fifth position ready when we do find a place. It’s not compatible with what we have, and they upgrade whether we’re using it or not. If we don’t, we’re going to be looking at $130,000, but it’s not compatible. If we have to buy five new positions, you’re looking $664,550 for five new ones.”
Warden said Johnson was asking commissioners to approve payment of the purchase to come from 911 fees, which she said the county oversees, but the money would not come from county coffers.
Commissioner Todd Stanton said the county’s options boil down to buying the used equipment from GCPD at $75,000 now or buying other equipment at a future time for a minimum of $130,000. Warden added that equipment would not be compatible with what the county has at this time.
Carr said the county has been looking at the Liberal Recreation Center for some time as a new location for the Communication Center, and no cost has been given for that at this time.
“That’s the first thing we asked for,” he said.
Commissioner Tammy Sutherland-Abbott asked if the GCPD could hold the equipment while county leaders talk with leaders from the City of Liberal about getting help with the project. Johnson said this is highly unlikely.
“If somebody else hears this is available, they’re going to sell it,” Johnson said.
Johnson said the GCPD has not put the equipment out for sale to the public, but rather dealing with Seward County directly.
As for possible relocation of the Communications Center, EMS Director John Ralston said the Communications Board is waiting on a dollar figure right now.
“I think everybody’s been for the project to get into a safe shelter for our communications, but that fell away between when we started and now,” he said. “We put a subcommittee together to see where we’re at, to put some dollars on a piece of paper so we can get everybody up to speed on what it’s going to cost. It’s a shared project.”
Ralston said time obligations have kept the Communications Board from meeting.
“Hopefully, we’ll do that in the next week, and we can get back with you and get what we can on the project,” he said. “We haven’t gotten the numbers back we wanted.”
Part of the discussion likewise concerned a $24,000 increase to Johnson’s budget for a private fiber line from the sheriff’s office to that new location.
“We keep asking if that’s going to be a killer for the whole project,” she said. “Is that still an issue?”
Warden said that is a standalone cost to just run the fiber.
“That doesn’t include anything else that would have been done construction wise,” she said.
Johnson said not getting questions answered is much of what is holding up the possible relocation project.
“That’s part of what’s holding me in the mud,” she said.
Carr updated Stanton, the commission’s newest member, on the discussion regarding the possible relocation prior to the March 17 meeting.
“We were going to move to the Rec Center where it’s all concrete structure, a lot safer than where they’re at now,” Carr said.
Commissioner Presephoni Fuller said with a location determined, fiber is the biggest challenge, but fiber is already in place.
“You’re talking about an extra line that costs $24,000,” she said.
Fuller too said if the county did not purchase the GCPD equipment, they would be looking at an additional $55,000 at minimum if they wait on used consoles.
“It may be more in another six months or another year,” she said. “You may not find anymore. I have to buy them brand new.”
Warden agreed, saying the Garden City unit is compatible with the county’s current units.
“If you waited and didn’t do this used one for $75,000 and we do make the move, you have purchase five new ones because the new one would not be compatible,” she said. “You would pay $75,000 now to have one that would be compatible with our system, or you would be looking at approximately just under $700,000 to have to do the five to have five positions if you let this one go and then could not find another used one.”
Ralston said the county had purchased a prior unit as a backup to some of the more costly units, but he said since that unit is not on the system, it will not get updates as needed.
“When you go to put it into service, you’ve got to start from the very beginning and start updating it, which takes a long time to get them put into service,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons the fifth station would be better served if it’s on there ready to go and it’s getting its backups and its updates.”
Ralston said it would be ideal to have the new location to allow for the Communications Center to expand, get more people on the radio and plan for the future.
Johnson said the fourth of the current units sits in her office and is not used regularly, but if one of the other units goes down, it can be easily called into action.
“We can unplug it from my area and go there instead of waiting for the tech to come from Great Bend, program the backup up to date and put it in service,” she said.
The GCPD unit will be financed from the Communications Department’s Senate Bill 50 911 account.
