County seeks funds for communications system
After much discussion Tuesday, Marion County commissioners agreed to authorize Michele Abbott-Becker, director of emergency communications, to apply for a grant or grants that would lead to a new emergency communications system for the county.
She will apply for a grant or grants that would supply 70 to 75 percent of the funding for the new system, which could cost as much as $1.4 million.
The county would pay the remaining 25 to 30 percent as a matching requirement.
Mark Grabar, with TBS Electronics Inc., Topeka, the county's consultant on the planned overhaul, said, "There's a good chance you won't be fully funded by a grant, anyway."
"It's an encumbrance that'll have to be financed," said Commissioner Leroy Wetta. He said later in the meeting that he had a problem with buying equipment for every municipality in the county.
Abbott-Becker told commissioners there was money available in the county's 911 Fund, at least for this year. Commissioners authorized expenditure of up to $90,000 for the county's share of the communications upgrade, in the first year.
A four-year lease-purchase is planned, with the county's payment not to exceed $90,000 per year. Bids have not been solicited, since it's still unknown whether the county will receive a grant covering up to three-fourths of the costs.
Grabar said the upgrade could be done with a lump sum of money, the total needed, or done more gradually. Homeland Security funding from the federal government was recently increased, and many people believe it will be increased again before long.
Gene Winkler, Marion, said everyone in the county will benefit from this upgrade, "so it's logical for the county to do it and assess everyone," rather than having another governmental entity do it.
"We owe the people of the county to provide them life-safety equipment," said Lester Kaiser of Marion County Fire District.
"How do you put a dollar figure on this, on a human life?," he asked.
Commission Chairman Howard Collett said, "We want it (the upgrade), but we have to be sure we have the money."
He added that it's the Legislature's fault that the county is so strapped for funds.
Various departments need to know how much they might have to kick in, too, said Kaiser. He also asked whether the entire proposal would be tabled if no grant were received.
"Communication isn't there" (at present), Kaiser said. "We can't effectively save people we're charged to protect without it."
Abbott-Becker said the county needed to act quickly, apply for the grant(s) soon.
Another person at the meeting said the county needs to step in and finance this crucial upgrade, so that it's equitable for everybody — so that it is not a matter of "some pay, some don't."
Wetta said he was not sure he was hearing strictly needs, that some of the items sought for purchase might be "wants, not needs." "Does everyone need a steak?," he asked rhetorically.
Kaiser said there must be a mobile communications unit in every emergency vehicle. With a portable/mobile unit, people can answer a page and say, "Yes, I got it."
This way, the chief and the dispatcher know how many people are responding to the page. The way it is now, it drives the chief and dispatcher "nuts," Kaiser said.
"These are not wants, they are needs," he said. "We have to be able to communicate."
Pagers are not so effective as radios. It was suggested that departments or individuals in them could even buy their own pagers.
Being four to five minutes late on a call could be fatal for someone, Kaiser and others said.
When the dispatcher has to page people a second and a third time on the same incident, Kaiser said, "you can hear the stress in the dispatcher's voice heighten."
Abbott-Becker said with the current pager system, "we don't know if they didn't get the page, if they just can't respond, or if some of the volunteers are coming."
Commissioner Bob Hein moved that the county authorize Abbott-Becker to apply for a grant or grants for the system overhaul. Collett seconded the motion, and the vote was 3-0 in favor.
