City-county trunked radio development at crossroads

by Karen E. Culp

SBJ Staff

Work done in the next two months will determine whether the city and county will be on the radio together in 2001.

A city-county trunked radio system is still in the development stage, but city and county officials will have to decide next month whether to commit to the project.

The radio system is to be shared by three principal entities: the city, City Utilities and Greene County, and it is to be used for law enforcement and for internal communications for the three parties.

Funded in part by a county-wide law enforcement sales tax, the radio system is being developed under the guidance of a technical users' advisory committee, which is made up of representatives from each participant.

Those participants will have to make their participation official in December, signing a legal agreement to that effect, said Bill Burks, who oversees telecommunications at CU and is spearheading CU's involvement in the radio system.

"Though the parties have all been involved in the development of this system and have supported it, we will need something that makes their participation legal and binding, and so on Dec. 13, each participant will sign a participation agreement," Burks said.

Burks said officials from Greene County had been concerned about being able to participate because of financial constraints.

Greene County Presiding Commissioner Dave Coonrod said it is premature at this point to speculate on what the county's participation level will be.

"We don't have all the information we need. We have to wait on those bids," he said.

Coonrod added that the county stands by its commitment to developing the radio system.

"We said this was something we were going to do and we're going to, but at this point we don't have those hard numbers, and until we do, we won't know what our participation will be," Coonrod said.

Burks said the contract for the project is to be awarded before the end of the year, but the parties would have to agree to pay their fair share before the awarding of the bid.

"We're looking at a $20 million bid, so we've got to have a legal, binding document that says the parties are committed to this before that bid is awarded," Burks said.

The city-county communication system will ease communications between city and county officials, especially in law enforcement, and will update outdated systems for everyone, including CU, Burks said.

"We were looking at updating ours on our own, and this was a good way to do so and also benefit the entire area," Burks said.

Originally, CU was to have paid for the system's infrastructure up front, and then the city and county would have paid back their share.

Now, however, those two entities may be using their own sources for the initial infrastructure costs.

"We made that offer to the city and county, but the city and county then said that they have the ability to borrow at a better rate than we can, so they can use their own sources up front," Burks said.

The utility will own and operate the infrastructure, Burks said. The new system should be ready for internal testing by January 2001, Burks said. The system should serve the area for 15 years.