Jay may partner for equipment

Jay County may choose to work with other counties to replace aging dispatch technology at Jay County Sheriff’s Office.
In 2018, support for the dispatch consoles used by the office will end. They won’t become unusable, but if there are problems the office will have trouble getting replacement parts or expert assistance.
Jenny Edwards, a sales representative for Emergency Radio Systems, recommended to council on Wednesday night Motorola’s MCC7500 Dispatch Console System.
It’s a system that Jay, Adams and Blackford counties could all choose, lowering the price for each party.
Though they would all be using the system, “you don’t even notice each other,” Edwards said.
Each county would retain control of who could access and update its information.
In special situations, the counties could not only notice but assist each other. If one dispatch location is hit by a tornado, for example, its dispatchers could travel to another county and resume dispatching there.
Edwards’ quote for four office dispatch units and one mobile unit is $574,000 ($351,000 for the equipment and $223,000 for installation, optimization and the warranty).
That price — which would be Jay County’s total, not the three-county total — assumes all three counties purchase together, Edwards said. It will go up if they don’t, but can go down depending on negotiations and the discounts available at the time of purchase.
“This is a decision-making kind of quote,” Edwards told council.
Council members agreed their next step is to set up a meeting with Adams and Blackford county councils to discuss whether the counties want to work together on this purchase.

In other business, council:
•Heard Bill Bradley, executive director of Jay County Development Corporation, request $25,000 in economic development income tax money to help start 529 college savings accounts for students in kindergarten through third grades through the Jay County Promise program. The EDIT advisory committee will consider the request and report back to council.
The Portland Foundation has already committed to giving $25 to each student who starts an account with at least $25. The United Way is giving $10,000.
Bradley hopes each account will have $100 in it by October.
•Approved a request from highway department superintendent Ken Wellman to use $300,000 from the department’s general fund to continue chipping and sealing roads. This amount will get the department to its yearly goal of about 100 miles of roads.
•Approved continuing tax abatements for Red Gold, Cross Road Precision Tool and Wabash Valley Power.