Parr signs dispatch contract

The dotted line has been signed for Jay County Sheriff’s Office to overhaul its dispatch system.
Jay County Commissioners president Faron Parr signed a contract Monday with Motorola for purchase of the new system, which will cost $343,745.
Support for the current dispatch consoles will end in 2018.
Jay County Council approved the contract Wednesday at its monthly meeting.
Following approval, council voted to pay a 10-percent down payment for the system from the infrastructure fund. The remaining funding will come from a seven-year loan, with a fixed interest rate of 2.409 percent, from First Merchants Bank.
Costs on the system will also include $521,614 for a 20-year maintenance program. It begins at a cost of $21,866 in year two and gradually increases over its lifespan, topping out at $32,843 in year 20.
For the purchase, 25 percent of the system price is due upon contract execution, 60 percent is due upon shipment of equipment and 5 percent each upon installation, system acceptance or start of beneficial use and final acceptance.
The contract originally stated that payments be made “twenty days after the date of each invoice.” Jay Burla, an account manager with Motorola, said Monday that has been extended, mentioning he understands it can take time for payments to be submitted, especially since the county is using financing to make payments.
“So we extended to 30 days on the five initial payments that are part of paying the initial contract,” he said.
Burla said it will take a few weeks for the contract to be processed and said he estimates the first invoice will be sent out in early September.
Meanwhile, commissioners Jim Zimmerman, Doug Inman and Parr received a report from county engineer Dan Watson, who informed them that summer chip and seal work is about 85 percent complete. He also said construction work on Indiana 26 is progressing smoothly and it appears Indiana Department of Transportation is on track to complete the project in November.
Work is also being done to change addresses for five properties that, as result of the roadwork, fall within the re-alignment for Indiana 26. He said three of those properties will be readdressed off Division Road, with the remaining two to be off of county road 300 West.
In other business, commissioners:
•Received a report from Larry Temple and Cheri Brown of the Purdue Extension Office. Brown said the office recently got a new coat of paint. She also said the group’s events at Jay County Fair went well, in spite of not having a full-time educator on staff.
•Were presented two bids from Sheriff Dwane Ford for asphalt and coating work to be completed for the sheriff’s office parking lot as well as its garage parking lot. A bid from Liby’s Stripe Right of Bluffton totaled $3,675 and the other from Mercer Asphalt and Sealcoat, Inc. came in at $4,463. Inman suggested Ford seek a quote from Landon Excavating.
•Approved splitting the cost with Waste Management to put a tile at county road 400 South near Jay County Landfill to help alleviate drainage issues at that location. A bid from Landon Excavating has been acquired for the work and highway superintendent Ken Wellman said the needed money could come out of his department’s fund. Commissioners also suggested the infrastructure fund as a possibility.
•OK’d county assessor Diana Stults to use money from her budget for two employees to attend a conference and testing in Indianapolis takin