Riley County commissioners gave approval Thursday to proceed with leasing options for the base infrastructure of a new emergency radio system.
The other option for the board was to make its financing a bond question for voters, either through a special election or by waiting for the November 2018 election.
Thursday’s direction focused on just $5.3 million of the system. The total cost for the system is projected at $11.3 million.
Riley County Emergency Management Director and County Fire Chief Pat Collins and Riley County Police Department Director Brad Schoen, along with other emergency and police personnel, were in the commission chambers for the decision.
“So it looks to me like the question is do we go ahead and do a lease purchase listed on the bottom verses do we wait until a public vote and bond it?” Commissioner Ben Wilson asked. “Is that correct if we do the bond option it would have to be public vote?”
“Yes, it has to be,” county clerk Rich Vargo answered.
“So its a difference of $64-65,000 cheaper to do the bonding, except interest rates will probably go up in the mean time and if it’s a special election we’d eat all that up and more in staff time?” Wilson continued.
“Yes, and it is a big dilemma the commission has to think about, because that cost could go up if you have to get multiple elections to get it approved,” Vergo responded. “There’s no guarantee it’s going to be approved first election.”
Commissioner Chairman Ron Wells shared concerns waiting would lose the bid or that higher interest rates could make future financing more expensive.
“The can has been kicked and here it lays, between the three of us, and at some point somebody has to do something,” he said. “We need to take care of our citizens, and at the best possible cost, too.”
Commissioners received bids on Oct. 12.
“I know we’ve been kicking the can down the road,” Commissioner Marvin Rodriguez said. “I know we need it. It’s a crucial time.”
Still, Rodriguez, like his fellow commissioners, said he was cautious to make make the infrastructure’s financing an executive decision.
Police and emergency officials have long told commissioners for years the current system has shown its age. The complaints with the system include dropped communications and dead spots — so much so they’ve become an everyday obstacle.
Schoen urged the commission to take action now and go with leasing options. He also told the board he understood the difficulties of the decision.
“I think that while it’s probably true that Commissioner Rodriguez’s concerns are likely to be the case, that there will people who will not like the fact you all voted to do this,” Schoen said, “there will be a whole lot more people more upset if we do it later and it costs even more and then they will say to you, ‘Why didn’t you (do something) earlier?’
“So your question is not whether or not you’re going to upset people. Your question is who are you going to upset? This is an unenviable position to be in and I commensurate with in the angst this causes.”
The Riley County 911 Advisory Board first voted to update radio equipment in 2005 and the commission moved forward in 2014 to develop a digital system.
The county has leasing offers from Sunflower Bank and KS State Bank for 15-year plans for the infrastructure and no agreement has been signed. Thursday’s action let officials know if the county would lease or bond infrastructure costs.
Collins, who began discussion on the system Thursday, played an audio sample of some of the drops in radio traffic crews deal with.
“That is just a representation of what 50 percent of our calls are like,” Collins told the board.
County Finance and Budget Officer Tami Robison, Wilson and Collins will be guests on Tuesday’s edition of “In Focus” on KMAN from 9-10 a.m.
