Whitfield County commissioners approve service agreement for emergency communication system, other items

Charles Oliver, The Daily Citizen, Dalton, Ga.
·4 min read

Nov. 18—Members of the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners voted 3-0 recently to approve a three-year, $817,964.53 service agreement with Motorola for the three towers for the county's emergency communication system.

Commissioner Robby Staten was absent, and board Chairman Jevin Jensen typically votes only if there is a tie.

"It's expensive, but at least our (first responders) can talk to each other," said Commissioner Greg Jones.

Jensen said if any of the towers go out there is no backup. The current service agreement expires on Dec. 31.

Jensen said county staff believe they may have "some small ideas or opportunities to save some money" on the contract and will be looking at those.

But the commissioners weren't happy about the cost.

When the towers were installed five years ago the towers had a five-year warranty. That has expired, and in August commissioners approved an extension through the end of the year to give the county time to negotiate a long-term agreement.

At the August commissioners meeting, officials from the county Emergency Management Agency and Fire Department warned that without the service agreement, if something happened to their equipment first responders would not have any communications.

The commissioners agreed at that meeting the feedback they have received from firefighters and law enforcement officers on the system has been very positive and they regard it as a major improvement over the 25-year-old system it replaced.

The commissioners also voted 3-0 to:

—Accept a $41,852.60 bid from Ten-8 Fire and Safety of Bradenton, Florida, for upgrades and repairs to the county Emergency Management Agency's (EMA) mobile command vehicle.

Jensen noted the county had budgeted $50,000 for the project and thanked the EMA for finding a bid under the budget. He said he thought it was a reasonable price to pay to extend the life of the truck for a few more years. He said it would cost $1.5 million to replace the truck.

—Use $136,545.60 of the $20.3 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds the county received to buy security cameras and a duress system (panic buttons) for the part of the courthouse that was recently renovated.

—Approve a $55,000 agreement with Lance Steel to trim and remove trees from the Carbondale Business Park.

—Approve an agreement to administer a $239,582 ARPA grant from the Judicial Council of Georgia to the Conasauga Judicial Circuit (Whitfield and Murray counties). The purpose of the grant is to address the backlog of cases, particularly those involving serious felonies. The award covers various costs such as for senior judges, jury costs and a new investigator for the district attorney's office.

The commissioners heard the first reading of a proposed amendment to the county subdivision ordinance that would, among other things, require the developer to certify that all lots in the subdivision are "designed with sufficient frontage to allow satisfactory ingress/egress" and that "driveway placement at a particular site or lot shall meet the sight distance requirements as set forth in the currently adopted version of GDOT (Georgia Department of Transportation) Regulations for Driveway and Encroachment Control, and shall require secondary approval from the Whitfield County engineer prior to construction."

They also heard the first reading of a proposed amendment to the county site design ordinance that would, among other things, mandate that "A commercial driveway shall not be located upon a shortcrest vertical curve or on a sharp horizontal curve. All commercial driveways should be designed and constructed so that motorists will have adequate sight distance in both directions along the road."

The commissioners named Steven Bratton sole finalist for road and highway superintendent. Bratton, formerly the county's right-of-way manager, has been serving as interim superintendent for the past four months since Public Works Director DeWayne Hunt resigned. The title of the job has been changed because the position will now report to the county engineer rather than the county administrator.

The commissioners agreed to hold work sessions, open to the public, on the 2023 budget on Tuesday, Nov. 29, and Wednesday, Nov. 30. Jensen said the work sessions will likely take place in county offices in the Wells Fargo building. He said they will last about two and a half to three hours, so they will likely start at 5 p.m.