Oct 31, 2023 3 min read

Dispelling inaccuracies about 911 system

It is time to put an end to what can only be described as a political stunt and dispel the inaccuracies included in Washington County Commissioner Nick Sherman’s letter to the editor on Thursday.

Last year, Washington County went out with requests for proposals to improve our 911 radio system. Unfortunately, only two proposals were received, a Motorola system and a Tait system provided by MRA, Inc.

The Motorola system proposal was $30,094,922, with annual maintenance costs of $1,164,152.

The MRA/Tait system proposed was $23,232,286, with an annual maintenance cost of $365,183.

As the proposals were very far apart, we went back to both vendors to sharpen their pencils and provide new quotes. The revised quotes were Motorola at $30,081,433, with annual maintenance of $913,876; and MRA/Tait at $22,545,690, with annual maintenance costs of $284,190. The Motorola proposal also required the county to move to new leased towers at an estimated new cost of at least $648,000 annually.

The funding for the project comes from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which stipulates that funds are to be used to make improvements to existing systems and buildings, not for new builds, and includes a deadline for spending the funds.

Motorola’s proposal would build an entirely new system, not permitted under ARPA guidelines, and far exceeded the completion date for ARPA Fund regulations, while the MRA/Tait system would build upon our current infrastructure and complete the project within the required timelines.

On March 16, we voted to move forward with the MRA/Tait proposal, meeting the ARPA spending guidelines and time constraints, and saving $7,695,164 in taxpayer dollars for capital costs, and $629,686 for annual maintenance costs.

Sherman has misled the public in referencing a lower proposal by Motorola submitted on July 19, four months after the contract was awarded on March 16.

It is noteworthy that neither of us has received any campaign contributions from anyone involved in the MRA/Tait proposal and that Sherman received $4,500 in campaign contributions from Motorola.

There are members of the Public Safety Task Force and community at large that do not agree with our decision, and there are those that do. The majority of the Board of Commissioners prudently chose to rely on the educated guidance of our Public Safety/ 911 officials, who have day-to-day knowledge of the inner workings of our radio system and county topography.

We are confident that the MRA contract guarantees, using the Tait equipment/system, will significantly improve countywide service coverage for our residents and our First Responder community.

Larry Maggi

Diana Irey Vaughan

Washington

Larry Maggi and Diana Irey Vaughan are Washington County commissioners.