County adjusts scope of contract

Jay County Commissioners decided to take a step back.

Commissioners heard from Integrated Public Safety Commission statewide interoperability coordinator Andrea Baughn and OK’d moving forward with a change in scope in the contract with Ritter Strategic Services during their meeting Monday.

In July, commissioners approved a $178,500 contract with the company to move forward with planning, procurement, engineering, project management and other work related to switching to the Integrated Public Safety Commission’s statewide radio system. Their decision followed a previous Ritter Strategic Services study completed on the county’s emergency responder radios, with the company recommending Jay County shift to the statewide system. (Discussion has been ongoing in Jay County for nearly five years regarding a new radio system.)

Per the change approved Monday, the county will pay an additional $39,000 for Ritter Strategic Services to look into costs and other information regarding the purchase of a stand-alone radio system.

Commissioners president Chad Aker noted he would like to be presented with more than one option for a new system. He reminded commissioners that Jay County Council president Matt Minnich has also expressed a similar desire.

Commissioners met last week with Ritter Strategic Services owner Barry Ritter, who explained his company has received a proposal from Motorola for tower sites as well as proposals from other vendors for pagers and other equipment.  (The Integrated Public Safety Commission  has a 20-year contract with Motorola to set up equipment for the system.) 

Ritter Strategic Services plans to negotiate prices with vendors before finalizing costs.

Aker contacted Ritter in December about looking into a radio system that non-emergency responders, such as Jay County Highway Department, could use. He proposed changing the scope in work on the contract with Ritter to include a second option for a stand-alone system.

Previously, non-emergency responders were not allowed on the statewide system. Jay County Emergency Management Agency director Samantha Rhodehamel shared news at the meeting Thursday about the Integrated Public Safety Commission system potentially opening up to county highway departments.

Baughn confirmed Monday her department is looking into adjusting its policy.

“We are revisiting that policy because we realize that expanding into that area is probably important to a lot of counties so you aren’t trying to maintain two systems,” she said.

She shared two features of the Integrated Public Safety Commission system — critical connect and smart connect. The former allows cellular devices to be integrated into the system. The latter, intended for Motorola devices, allows radios to automatically revert to a wifi signal within range when put into an area with a low radio signal. 

Baughn noted Whitley County uses the smart connect feature regularly in dense buildings made of limestone. Answering a question from Aker, she pointed out the county’s school systems developed a hidden wifi network to be used by first responders in school buildings.

Regarding non-emergency responders on the system, she suggested the county use the cellular connect feature.

“There are purposely built devices for utilities, like the highway department,” she said. “They look like radios, they act like radios, but they’re actually using cellular (connections).”

The devices would allow the highway department to switch over to talk to first responders in the event of an emergency. For day-to-day operations, the highway department would essentially have a separate channel.

“They could have many on that cellular side of the network, and then when they would switch over, they would have one to utilize to be able to talk to dispatch or whoever they need to talk to in a disaster situation,” she said.

Baughn briefly discussed other background with the statewide system, which started operations in 1999. The system shares 192 interconnected sites across the state, with nearly 2,400 state and county agencies currently utilizing it. Baughn noted several counties surrounding Jay County use the system.

She also pointed out that Ohio expects to have its new encrypted system fully implemented by the end of the year. Baughn said she is working with Ohio’s coordinator to figure out radio interoperability between states, specifically for counties that regularly send mutual aid across state lines, such as Jay County and Mercer County, Ohio.

Aker asked commissioners about their thoughts on whether to amend the agreement with Ritter or continue solely looking into the Integrated Public Safety Commission system.

Commissioner Duane Monroe expressed his desire to stick with the original contract.

“I’ve talked to a lot of the people that’s going to be using (the radios), and that’s not per say what they want,” he said, regarding a stand-alone system. “I feel like we’re going just to prolong this whole process … my recommendation is to go what Ritter started with and continue to process with Integrated Public Safety Commission. I think, $40,000 more to do this amendment, I just think it needs to be moved forward.”

Responding to Monroe’s comment about the cost, Aker said he believes $40,000 is insignificant compared to the multi-million dollars the county could save. Monroe said he didn’t disagree but pointed out the bids will not be comparable. He again referenced responders who are not in favor of a second option, and he pointed to Ritter’s expertise and recommendation on the matter.

Commissioner Doug Horn said he still has a lot of questions left unanswered, such as the costs associated with using the cellular connect feature with Integrated Public Safety Commission’s system and how complicated it is to integrate.

“I’m kind of like Duane, I’d like to see the thing move forward, but I’d like to know again what we want, and I don’t really know that yet,” he said. “Every meeting is something new, and when we’re trying to catch up (as new commissioners), I suppose that’s the way it is, but it’s, you know, you come to this meeting, ‘Well, we can do this,’ and you come to this meeting, ‘Well, we can do this,’ and, what can’t we do?”

He asked Aker if Ritter Strategic Services could look into the costs and process for implementing non-emergency personnel into the Integrated Public Safety Commission system, with Aker confirming it would also do that.

Monroe again pointed to Ritter’s recommendation and made a motion for the county to continue with its contract as initially approved. His motion died for lack of a second.

Horn then made a motion to amend the contract, allowing Ritter to look into the stand-alone system and also Integrated Public Safety Commission’s interoperability for non-emergency personnel, with Aker seconding the motion. Commissioners approved the change 2-1 with Monroe dissenting.