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Thursday, September 02, 2010
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| 10/1/2009 8:39:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Sheriff educates County Board on complicated system upgrade
BY DENISE MARTIN
Chisago County police, fire, public works and all the community-related radio systems are about to undergo a huge change. The way records are kept and access to those records also must be revised, or scrapped and rebuilt. A project team was named about a year ago to look into how to go about doing this. Five vendors of software systems responded to the group's Request for Information and last week the County Board got an update prepared by Ron Michaels Consulting, with Mike Sexe presenting.
Sheriff Todd Rivard explained that everything is in flux.
Regionalization of 911 centers is being looked at. The computer system Chisago County's sheriff's department has shared with Washington County since 1993, is obsolete.
The project team is still reviewing some of the more promising RFIs received. Of the five companies who sent back RFIs-- one beneficial proposal from the group that already provides services to one police department in the county, stands out, Rivard added.
The networks supporting public safety communications and records management are so complicated and so many options are in the mix that the sheriff has scheduled a series of meetings with county commissioners just to explain where things are at.
Sheriff Todd Rivard is asking the Board to make a decision on or about October 28 to select which of several options the county will pursue.
Said Rivard, "We will do what's best for the county, get the best bang for the buck." He said there'll be a top-of-the-line option and lesser systems presented. As sheriff he's only spearheading this necessary initiative, but he reminded the commissioners the system will impact the workday of a wide range of governmental services and public safety personnel.
Chisago County was granted a little over $1 million from the legislature which is in an account managed by the Metro Emergency Services Board. The money doesn't stay there forever, though. The County Board has until December 15 to notify the MESB of its future plans to improve the aging system. The Federal Communications Commission has a deadline of January 1, 2013 for all two-way radios to operate on a narrowband mode. This mandate first was published after congressional action in the mid-1990s. The dealdine has been pushed out twice and Sheriff Rivard said there won't be any more delays for implementation.
Commissioner George McMahon said his concern is improving inter-agency communications. McMahon noted that when the armed gas station hold-up happened in Taylors Falls, he was volunteering at the Vietnam Healing Wall installation, and he witnessed when a state patrol car radio (parked at the memorial wall) didn't pickup dispatch information he could hear being broadcast to a sheriff's squad car, also stationed at the wall.
On deck;
The sheriff holds a "radio users" meeting October 6 at 6:30 p.m.
The county commissioners meet again October 7 and will hear details on specific upgrades.
The County Board meeting Oct. 21 covers possible consolidation issues. Washington County's new communications center has "capacity" to support Chisago County. A Governor's Work Group is analyzing the best structure for public safety answering points (PSAP). This group is charged with making a report to state policymakers in January 2010.
The network improvement budget implications will be reviewed Oct. 22 in a finance subcommittee meeting at 9 a.m.
The Board should choose an option October 28.
In a related action-- the sheriff received the okay to remodel a Center City building. The county bought the former abstract and title company office, which is next to the government center main parking lot and 100 yards or so from the county jail.
The Board voted, with Robinson opposed, to buy the vacated building for this use. Robinson commented that he would like to know what the sheriff has in mind for jail space too, but he voted with the majority to remodel. (Walker was absent.)
The county will move forward with about $40,000 in improvements in order to use the building for jail administration. The money comes out of bonds the county sold to develop a new jail site. The new jail project is still on-hold, but jail staff need to get into offices.
The Center City Council allowed a temporary modular unit to be parked on the existing jail site, but the plan was authorized with the understanding the trailer would be removed when a new jail project moved ahead; but the new jail was put on indefinite hold by the County Board.
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