Dane CO digital radio system

[cpd38]

This was on Madison.com tonight. It looks like Motorola got the bid for Dane CO unless I read this too quickly.

WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL


WED., JUL 15, 2009 - 8:44 PM
As deadline approaches, no agreement on how to pay for Dane County's $30 million radio system
By MATTHEW DeFOUR
608-252-6144
mdefour@madison.com

Disagreement over how to pay for Dane County’s new $30 million radio system needs to be settled soon in order to meet a critical deadline, 911 director John Dejung warned the 911 board Wednesday.

The board agreed to enter contract negotiations for the new system with Schaumburg, Ill.,-based Motorola. The company’s proposal edged out another by Melbourne, Fla.,-based Harris Corp. for the digital radio system, which is intended to improve communication between the county’s multiple emergency response agencies.

The County Board expects to borrow $30 million for the system — Dane’s second-largest public works project in recent history. Dejung said both companies’ proposals were “in the ballpark” of that amount. An official price tag won’t be known until the final contract is signed, he said.

But before the contract negotiation can begin, the county must resolve a conflict with smaller municipalities over who should pay for the 5,429 end-user radios, estimated to cost an additional $8.4 million, and maintenance of the entire system, estimated at $1.4 million a year.

A subcommittee led by Sup. Dianne Hesselbein, of Middleton, voted last week in support of a proposal under which the county would offer loans to municipalities that couldn’t afford the radios.

But Fitchburg Fire Chief Randy Pickering said there may still be some small villages and towns that don’t have enough room under the state tax levy limit to pay back the loan. The Dane County Fire Chiefs Association opposes any solution that doesn’t result in everyone joining the system, he said.

There has been no resolution on who should pay for maintenance, though another committee is considering whether to divide the cost based on how many radios each municipality has.

Failure to reach a compromise could delay implementation of the new system, but Dejung said “time is of the essence” because federal regulations require the county to switch its radios to a narrower bandwidth by the end of 2012.

“We need to really put our heads together and our nose to the grindstone in the next month,” Dejung said

[biglaz]

Minutes from the 7/15/09 Public Safety Communications Center Board.

Technology Committee. Thank you to Captain Balles for all his years of hard work and dedication
to this committee. Two vendors were very strong and competitive with close scores. Motorola
has been chosen as the vendor, not to exclude the second vendor if contracts do not work with
Motorola. Would like to move forward with contract work with Motorola. Motion by Coughlin,
seconded by Skidmore.

http://danedocs.countyofdane.com/web...S20090715m.pdf