Detroit's radios paid by suburbs

[seamusg]

Outlying towns will pay $26 million in water fees to support the city's police and fire dispatch system.

By John Wisely / The Detroit News
Todd McInturf / The Detroit News

Detroit is spending $130 million on a new radio system for emergency services and other departments.

Detroit's new radios

• Cost: $130 million

• Detroit Water and Sewerage Department's portion: $43 million

• Total system radios: 11,000

• Detroit Water and Sewerage radios: 1,250

• Detroit police and fire radios: 7,600

Water Dept. static


DETROIT -- Suburban residents are helping pay for Detroit's new $130 million digital radio system through their water and sewer bills, even though Detroit police and firefighters will hold the majority of the system's radios.

The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department will pay $43 million for the dispatch and communication system, a third of the total cost, while its workers will use just 11 percent of the radios, according to documents obtained by The Detroit News.

The Detroit police and fire departments will have 69 percent of the radios.

That disparity infuriates suburban leaders, whose customers will pay nearly $26 million for the system, based on the portion of revenue they provide. They also question the price tag, which is more than twice that of Oakland and Macomb counties' new systems combined.

Detroit officials insist the expenses are fairly distributed and the improvements are to secure a system that serves more than 4 million customers.

The dispute is the latest battle in the water wars that have raged for more than a decade between the city and the suburbs. Suburban residents have complained about an average 40 percent increase in water rates over the past five years, a lack of representation and perceived mismanagement. Some Detroiters accuse suburbanites of trying to take over the system.

The feuds have played out in courtrooms and even the state Legislature, where suburban lawmakers continue to push for regional oversight.

"This is just more evidence of what we have been saying all along: that this is a department out of control," said Mike Greiner, deputy mayor in Warren.

"They think money grows on trees, and guess who's paying for it? The suburbs," he said.

Critics raise questions

Many communities across the country have been upgrading their communications systems since the September 11 attacks, when police, fire and ambulances struggled to communicate with one another. Detroit officials hope to have the new system operating by late August, well before the Super Bowl. It is a system designed to allow most Detroit city departments, including emergency responders, to talk with one another.

The system also will tie into a statewide network.

For the water department, that means a security guard or a pipe crew working at the department's intake facility on Lake Huron can speak to other employees across southeast Michigan.

But critics of the system raise questions including:

• Why does the system cost more than twice as much as new ones in Oakland and Macomb counties?

• Why is the water department, which is managing the contract to build the system, in charge when the largest users will be other city departments?

• Although the water department is paying for 33 percent of the total cost, which includes its radios, why is it paying for 60 percent of the system's towers, computers and other infrastructure costs?

Detroit defends system

City officials insist the cost allocations are fair.

Documents obtained by The News show the water department ordered 700 portable radios that can be worn on the hip of an employee, for $2,433 each. It bought another 550 mobile units for vehicles at $3,505 each.

All city departments are paying for the radios that they will use, but the water department acknowledges that it will pay 60 percent of system infrastructure costs.

The system's computer is housed in a $29 million, bombproof bunker on Detroit's west side. The building, which includes concrete walls more than a foot thick, bank vault doors and its own power supply, also will house the Detroit police's emergency dispatch center. The city is paying for all of the dispatch center and 40 percent of the radio center.

The water department also is paying for a portion of the common items in the building, including utilities and parking.

"Water is not paying for police radios," said Dave Rayford, Detroit's chief information officer who is spearheading the effort along with Detroit Water and Sewerage Department Director Victor Mercado. "We have to be real careful when we talk about project costs."

Mercado has been unavailable for questions the past 10 days, said department spokesman Delores Skomra, who defended the costs.

"For infrastructure, the arrangement reflects the fact (the water department) needed coverage over its 1,071-square-mile service area, while the other city departments need coverage only within the city," Skomra said. "The system is designed to provide in-building coverage throughout Michigan's largest city."

But some suburban leaders say that coverage strong enough to be heard in buildings only is needed for police and fire services, not water and sewer.

"The (water department) doesn't need in-building coverage in Detroit, as witnessed by the fact that it doesn't need it in the surrounding counties," said Robert Daddow, deputy county executive in Oakland County. "Why am I as a water customer paying for a bombproof building and towers?"

County systems differ

The 10 towers on the system all are in Detroit. Outside the city, the department will use state towers, a move that will save money, Rayford said.

Macomb County is joining the state system, said Capt. Rick Kalm of the Sheriff's Department. The county is spending about $13 million to build six towers and buy about 500 radios for the Sheriff's Department. The system could be expanded to handle about 3,500 users, Kalm said.

Oakland County's new $42 million system will have about 6,000 users and can connect with the state system, Daddow said.

Rayford said the water department was chosen to run the radio system contract because it has the most experience building large construction projects.

"There is a very large construction blueprint," Rayford said. "This is a fine group of people to manage the construction. Water is like, 'I've got this built, I'm out of here.'"

But some of the expenses in the contract also raise eyebrows. The department paid $9,300 to obtain a historical designation for Denby High School, where one of the towers is located. Rayford said the move was needed to get approval to work at the site. The department also paid $217,000 in back rent owed by the city at the Penobscot building, where another tower is located.

Water department documents indicate that the back rent will be reimbursed by another city department.

"Over X period, somewhere, there were a couple (rent payments) that didn't get paid," Rayford said. "I'm unsure why they weren't paid. I don't know where the disconnect happened."

The expenses reinforce suspicions in the suburbs that the water department's big contribution is money, not construction expertise.

"To say they are the only ones who could build this -- give me a break," said state Rep. Shelley Goodman Taub, R-Bloomfield Hills, who is sponsoring a bill seeking regional oversight of the department. "Do they have a building department? The only place that Detroit can get ready cash is the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. If the water department has 11 percent of the radios, it ought to have 11 percent of the costs."

Suburban leaders aren't the only ones who question why the water department is handling the contract.

"It stinks," said Detroit City Council President Maryann Mahaffey.

She is unhappy that Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was able to authorize the radio system contract without council input. Judge John Feikens, under a federal consent decree over pollution, gave Detroit's mayor broad powers to manage the water and sewerage department.

"With Judge Feikens over the department and the mayor as czar, it often seems to me that they will take contracts where they know we will raise questions and red-tag them and say, 'This is an emergency; we have to have this,'" Mahaffey said. "We're told that we have the authority to approve contracts, but, in effect, we don't have any say. It's like, where's the accountability?"

A Nov. 11, 2003, executive order obtained by The News shows Kilpatrick awarded the contract to Detroit-based Motor City Electric Co., a company that has worked for the department in the past.

"In order to perform and fulfill my obligations as Special Administrator, I have approved and executed (the contract) with Motor City Electric Co.," Kilpatrick wrote.

Oakland County Drain Commissioner John McCulloch complained two years ago when work on the system began and has yet to get a breakdown of who is paying for what.

"After two years of trying, we have never been able to get an explanation," McCulloch said. "The last thing the city needs is to be spending that kind of money on the system."[/b]

[stevengn]

The Cleveland Water Deprtment paid for Clevelands (63 Million dollar)Digital Radio system in 1996. I guess water is where the money is. SG

[johnvassel]

In Detroit, water is where the Suburbs money is....
Millions of dollars on radio infrastructure, yet they lay off city services on a monthly basis...

[MacombMonitor]

Now I'm reading that our Government's Homeland Security is funding these new radios systems. If so, then why is it that Detroit is passing the expense to the suburbs via an increase in the Water/Sewage bill? Maybe this would something for FOX TV2 Problem Solvers to investigate?

[Jeffn8wb]

Interesting thought. I bet that FOX2 would be very happy to run this story.

[N_Jay]

Originally Posted by MacombMonitor

Now I'm reading that our Government's Homeland Security is funding these new radios systems. If so, then why is it that Detroit is passing the expense to the suburbs via an increase in the Water/Sewage bill? Maybe this would something for FOX TV2 Problem Solvers to investigate?

DHS funds a PORTION of lots of systems, but rarely picks up the whole bill.

[MacombMonitor]

I still don't understand why other cities and counties have to foot the bill for radios in the City Of Detroit! We have to buy our own. Detroit is certainly not helping us. Just because they mismanage funds, grants, tax dollars, and casino money, shouldn't mean they can just pass the buck to someone else. If they'd collect money from unpaid traffic tickets, they could probably pay for the radios! Not to mention how much city income tax, and property tax goes uncollected. What a quagmire!

[MacombMonitor]

Originally Posted by stevengn

The Cleveland Water Deprtment paid for Clevelands (63 Million dollar)Digital Radio system in 1996. I guess water is where the money is. SG

But was it Cleveland's own resident's water bill, or residents living outside of Cleveland?

[MacombMonitor]

Originally Posted by johnvassel

In Detroit, water is where the Suburbs money is....
Millions of dollars on radio infrastructure, yet they lay off city services on a monthly basis...

Yes, they probably have more radios than they do city workers! Remember when the casinos were going to pour tons of money into the city, for the improvements benefiting the residents? From what I understand, the casinos have given in excess of their original projections, and commitments. So where is it?

[N_Jay]

Originally Posted by MacombMonitor

I still don't understand why other cities and counties have to foot the bill for radios in the City Of Detroit! We have to buy our own. Detroit is certainly not helping us. Just because they mismanage funds, grants, tax dollars, and casino money, shouldn't mean they can just pass the buck to someone else. If they'd collect money from unpaid traffic tickets, they could probably pay for the radios! Not to mention how much city income tax, and property tax goes uncollected. What a quagmire!

Because the Water district uses it. and the water district includes the city and suburban areas.
The issue is the distribution of costs, and that is up to the agencies involved. (Unless you are of the mindset of some here that EVERY internal decision a government agency makes should be voted upon by public).

[stevengn]

Originally Posted by MacombMonitor

But was it Cleveland's own resident's water bill, or residents living outside of Cleveland?

Both Cleveland and the suburbs. The entire Cuyahoga County get there water service from the Cleveland Division Of Water. Steveng

[MacombMonitor]

Originally Posted by N_Jay

Because the Water district uses it. and the water district includes the city and suburban areas.
The issue is the distribution of costs, and that is up to the agencies involved. (Unless you are of the mindset of some here that EVERY internal decision a government agency makes should be voted upon by public).

I understand what you are saying, but I think passing along a grossly disproportionate cost of radio equipment for the entire city of Detroit, for all its various departments should be investigated, because I would think it would be illegal. The Water Department uses a very small fraction of that equipment. Where does it say that the Water & Sewage Departments billing can be used to subsidize funds the city needs to cover cost of departments outside of the Water & Sewage Department? It's a known fact that the suburbs of Detroit are already being over billed for Detroit's Water & Sewage service. Now this! I guess you'd feel different if it was impacting you directly.

[N_Jay]

Originally Posted by MacombMonitor

I understand what you are saying, but I think passing along a grossly disproportionate cost of radio equipment for the entire city of Detroit, for all its various departments should be investigated, because I would think it would be illegal. The Water Department uses a very small fraction of that equipment. Where does it say that the Water & Sewage Departments billing can be used to subsidize funds the city needs to cover cost of departments outside of the Water & Sewage Department? It's a known fact that the suburbs of Detroit are already being over billed for Detroit's Water & Sewage service. Now this! I guess you'd feel different if it was impacting you directly.

Yes we know, and the "Fly Over States" should pay the coastal states back for the construction of the Interstate system.

We now return you to a little thing called "REALITY"!

[seamusg]

Havn't heard anything from Warren on this.