Final payment due for $8.2M 911 radio upgrades in Branch County

BRANCH COUNTY — The final bill for the $8.2 million upgrade and rebuild of the 911 Central Dispatch radio system is pending approval and payment.

Branch County administrator Bud Norman told the 911 board Wednesday he is waiting for consultant ACD Telcom to review the final invoice.

"Once they approve that and get it to us, we'll make that final payment" to the low bidder J&K Communications, Norman said.

The 911 board, then the county commission, approved several "add-ons" to the system. Some tie the four surrounding counties into the Branch County 800 MHz system to allow direct communications. The commission paid the add-on bills.

Norman said there is a question of who will pay the consultant for the additional work.

Last October, the county approved a change order for consultants ACD Telcom to increase its contract not to exceed $93,750.

Norman said, "We're not prepared to tell you what this amount is yet, because we're still doing a reconciliation."

The additional work was necessary to determine if a sixth tower was needed to reach 95% communication coverage of the entire county. The sixth new tower was unnecessary and saved approximately $1.1 million of the $9.3 million borrowed.

Surcharge collection Branch County could end 911 surcharge early

The county began planning to change to a modern digital upgrade five years ago due to large dead spots in emergency communication coverage.

Norman said the issue is who pays. The money could come from the surcharge used to pay for the upgrade or from the 911 fund balance.

In November 2020, voters increased the monthly 42 cents to a $2.96 surcharge on all telephone lines for six years to pay for the upgrade. The nearly $30-a-year increase went into effect in July 2021.

Norman said the surcharge could end early because of the lower cost of building the system.

The new system will add costs to the annual 911 budget paid by a .99 operational millage.

"You're going to continue to have these costs, upkeep of the towers, the system itself, maintenance cost associated with the system," Norman said, taking away from the fund balance.

Bob Swick, the 911 director, urged the board and county commission not to tap the operating budget for the consultant. The director noted in adding the five new upgraded towers cost of operating and maintaining them increased tenfold.

In revamping and improving operations, "we've also added two managers that weren't there before at $45,000 apiece. We just hired an IT guy for $95,000," Swick said. "Those are yearly things we just took on that weren't there before, plus all these towers."

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Each time the 911 board increased the system costs with add-ons, it told the county commission each was the last addition to the project.

The board will wait until Norman computes the final amount to make its recommendation.

Board member Larry LaMontagne, the Bethel Township supervisor, said the amount would not change much in shortening the surcharge collection length.

— Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DReidTDR.

This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Final payment due for $8.2M 911 radio upgrades in Branch County