Radio costs looming?

With budgets already tight, local officials are wondering how they'll be able to pay for a major upgrade of emergency radio communications equipment being mandated by the federal government.

The Federal Communications Commission is mandating that emergency radios shift to a narrow band system, replacing the existing UHF and VHF systems now in place at most police and fire departments.

The deadline for the changeover is Jan. 1, 2013, and the Indiana Department of Homeland Security is working to inform local governmental units about the new requirements.

One estimate in a comparable rural county in Indiana was that the change could cost nearly $250,000, Jay County Commissioners learned this morning.

"There's some grant money available, but it's matching on a 50-50 basis," commissioner Milo Miller Jr. said.

Commissioners also learned that work continues to move smoothly on the expansion of the Jay County Jail.

"They're working on kitchen stuff the next few weeks and electrical," project supervisor Jeff Badders of SchenkelShultz Architecture said. "They've pulled a lot of the wires, but they've got a good month ahead of them."

Completion of the jail addition is expected in August, but no date has yet been set for transfer of prisoners, pending training sessions for jailers.

Badders said county council members will be invited for a tour of the jail project at 6 p.m. on July 14 prior to the council's next meeting.

In other business, commissioners included an item in their official minutes reiterating a ban of guns on county property by people other than law enforcement. The action was recommended in light of a recent change in Indiana law that allows employees to have firearms in their locked vehicles while at work.

The commissioners also approved two emergency claims, one to pay the $350,852.60 bond payment for the TIF (tax increment financing) district and one to pay $634.60 to the Indiana Department of Revenue for fuel taxes.[[In-content Ad]]