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Item 2.
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| City Council Work Session | |
| Date: | 03/07/2022 |
| Title: | 911 Radio Systems |
| Presented by: | Chris Kukulski, City Administrator |
| Department: | City Hall Administration |
| Presentation: | No |
| Legal Review | Not Applicable |
RECOMMENDATION
Proceed with approval for purchase and implementation of City-Wide Radio System
BACKGROUND (Consistency with Adopted Plans and Policies, if applicable)
The current city radio system is nearing its end-of-life term. In March of 2023, the manufacturer of the system will no longer support the existing 20+ year old system with software or hardware components. Additionally and because of this, the remote monitoring and support service agreement will expire as well as there would be no option to repair/maintenance. The current system experiences failures weekly and therefore, staff confidence in the operability of this system beyond March of 2023 is very low. This system is used by all department in the City which utilize land mobile radio and data. New system implementation is approximately 12-18 months. This system would provide nearly identical system operation for most departments however would increase interoperability of both Law Enforcement and Fire/EMS to be compatible with all other local, county, state, and federal partners in the area. The partnership currently present with the State of Montana Department of Justice allows for utilization of existing equipment not currently employed by the City, and would serve the purpose to create an exceptional savings opportunity for the system.
STAKEHOLDERS
All City departments which currently do now or will utilize land mobile radio and/or data.
ALTERNATIVES
1) Pursue RFP for a completely City owned system at nearly double to the cost due to the ownership requirements of the a city-owned “core” or 2) delays in procurement could push the implementation of system requirements beyond current system failure, necessitating the use of personnel from Fire and PD, on overtime, to function as human repeaters throughout the city to relay communications on line-of-sight options. The City does not have a backup radio system.
FISCAL EFFECTS
Core system requirements are estimated directly at approximately $7.85 Million
SUMMARY
While significantly behind schedule, staff has been working tirelessly to assemble a project team both internal and external to the City to accomplish a 12-18 month implementation timeline to a 9-15 month timeline to facilitate a seamless system transition without exceptionally negative consequences to public safety and daily city services. The use of the partnership already present with the MTDOJ allows us to establish a higher level of interoperability than has existed prior to this system and at a significantly reduced cost.