Riley County’s efforts in replacing their 911 radio system, which began a decade ago, continue to move forward-as an emergency radio consultant visited the county commission during their meeting on Monday.
Tusa Consulting is credited with providing radio communications services to different departments and organizations throughout the nation. They recently developed an $80 million radio system for the Kansas City metro area. It included five counties, two states, 24 dispatch centers and 25,000 users.
Tusa Consultants have visited Riley County previously to find out what their current system is like and to see how to improve it.
The county uses more than 25 VHF (very high frequency) frequencies to serve public safety and public service agencies. The current system has inconsistent coverage, a complex/inefficient system, insufficient channel capacity, the equipment is reaching the end of it’s life, and it lacks modern public safety features.
The consultant visiting the commission shared estimates for two different systems, as well as a recommendation.
The VHF system was estimated to cost around $10,600,000. This would not include the cost of the site renovations and/or tower modifications. The 800 MHz system cost estimate came in at around $11,100,000. The recommendation was that the county go with the 800 MHz option.
For an additional paging system, the cost estimate is around $285,000.
Commissioners will continue to review the information provided by Tusa Consulting before moving forward with a decision.
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The press conference portion of the meeting highlighted a few recent and upcoming events.
County Police Captain, Josh Kyle mentioned the department has been dealing with a few strings of vehicle burglaries. Most of these involve unlocked vehicles, so Kyle encouraged members of the public to take all valuables out of their cars and lock their vehicles.
Commission Chair, Ron Wells presented a proclamation to County Health Department Director, Brenda Nickel. This officially declared this week as Public Health Week here in Riley County, which was recently announced as being the “healthiest county” in Kansas. Several health events will be held throughout the week to raise awareness about the importance of public health.
County Clerk, Rich Vargo reminded the public of the upcoming election for school boards and city commission candidates. Polls will be open from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. on Tuesday and live coverage begins on News Radio 1350 KMAN once the polls close.
