The answer to the question I think is a matter of comfort level with the radios. Any new radio you are not familiar with will not be a good choice because of the fact you don't know how to use it. Any radio that you get and spend some time with learning how to operate the more comfortable you will be with it.
There is a large difference between a Ham grade radio and a commercial grade radio - commercial grade radios (for the sake of simplicity, there are exceptions) are strictly programmable = they run off of a "code plug" that contains the channels, groups, CTCSS/DCS codes, etc, or in the case of digital - the coding for the digital talk groups, etc. You do not have the ability to program this in from the radio itself - it is done via computer.
Ham radios, in contrast, have all the features programmable from the radio - either from the front panel buttons, the microphone button/keypad, or a combination there-of. Or, you could also program via computer.
If you have routine frequencies/channels that you operate on in the Ham bands (repeaters in a specific area, simplex frequencies designated for use by your organizations, what have you) then you can program these in to memory channels. Most of the modern Ham grade radios allow for alpha-neumeric tagging of channels, much the same way that the modern commercial radios are set up. This way it is easy to tell what the channel is so long as the name is set to some convention that makes sense to you and your organization (as opposed to a channel number and frequency, in which case you would need a cross reference chart to know what channel/frequency is for what).
So again - the answer to the question is your comfort level with the radios. I would not get a "cheap" radio, but you also do not need a top of the line radio - with one exception:
There are a multitude of modes used in Ham radio these days. You will need to define what modes you need to operate on first off before you define the radio.
Icom has DSTAR and Yaesu has Fusion, for example. There is a fair amount of DMR activity as well as P25 on the Ham bands. Do you need access to any of these modes? All 4 are not interchangeable - you need a dedicated radio for each one.
For Analog Ham use you can use any radio. Fusion radios will run analog, DSTAR radios will run analog, and DMR radios will run analog. Though, the latter (DMR) usually follows the commercial standard of computer programming as opposed to programming from the radio (exception I have found is Anytone - they have a nice dual band HT that has VFO functionality like a ham rig - you do not have the ability to save the information in to memory from VFO, but you can direct key analog frequencies - simplex and repeater, along with CTCSS tones, etc - from the rig).
Long answer, but the answer isn't simple. For analog - stay with the Big 3 (Kenwood, Icom, Yaesu). Alinco is not bad, either. There are a lot of import radios (TYT, Anytone, Baofeng, etc) that are attractive in price compared to the Big 3, but for reliability's sake in the environment you are going to use yours I would not want to veer away from the Big 3. I have radios from all of them. Find what you like, start somewhere, and your best step towards reliability is to get to know the radio you buy.
Best of luck to you and your organization!
