Rockdale Citizen

CONYERS -- The Rockdale County Board of Commissioners received a recommendation Tuesday to approve $5 million for upgrading the county's emergency 911 radio network as opponents questioned the cost and lack of a bid process.

Motorola was the selected vendor to upgrade the radio system from analog to digital and add two new radio towers for wider coverage. The upgrade will be funded by 2010 SPLOST funds, which had designated $4.5 million for the project and included the construction of one new radio tower. Tuesday's proposal came to the BOC at $5 million and has two new radio towers at $900,000 each.

The proposal came to the BOC after significant public debate. Opponents of the Motorola contract argued it will cost more and the county had not investigated other vendors. Proponents have said the county works on a Motorola network and it would cost more to replace all the equipment with a different vendor.

The 911 upgrade is on the agenda for a vote at the next BOC meeting on Feb. 28. Rockdale County Fire Chief Frank Wilson supported the proposal and said the proposed contract would do the job for his department. He also said the proposal has the support from Emergency 911 Communications and the Sheriff's Office.

"Being brought on as your chief of Fire and Rescue I am not comfortable standing in front of you and taking a dice roll when it comes to our personnel's safety," Wilson said. "I feel strongly and confidently in telling you that we should not look or question that additional $900,000 for one additional tower when we are talking about our public safety folks."

Along with the upgrade to digital, the county is seeking better coverage. The two towers on Smyrna Road and the Rockdale County Jail leave gaps on the east side of the county. The new towers would be placed on county property off Miller Bottom Road and at Earl O'Neal Park.

Commissioner JaNice Van Ness questioned Motorola's annual maintenance fees during Tuesday's work session and sought a comparison between a three-tower and four-tower system.

"I know we are significantly upgrading the quality of the network for our public safety personnel.... What I'm asking is how do you know three towers will not suffice and do a phase in, like she mentioned earlier," Van Ness asked, referring to options presented by a Motorola executive at the meeting.

Bill Campbell, a member of the SPLOST subcommittee making the presentation, explained that the ideal situation would have five towers. Wilson added that his department's evaluation showed four towers would be warranted.

Warranties will reduce first year license and infrastructure fees to $52,000, lower than the $68,000 paid for the two towers. In the second year, the license fees will be around $110,000.

Annual maintenance charges for four towers will be $144,920 and climb each year to $158,360 in the fifth year of the contract.

A previous bid process was canceled in October when county officials said the request for proposals, or RFPs, were released prematurely. According to information provided at the meeting, the recommendation for Motorola was based on the bidding process performed by the state of Georgia. The decision not to use an RFP bid process came from the BOC.

Russ Prindle, area sales manager for the Harris Corp., said during public comment his company offers an unsolicited bid that Harris was preparing last year before the bid process was canceled by the county.

"We expected another RFP to be released and our team was waiting for that. Obviously, there are advantages of the competitive bid process that everyone is aware of. For additional savings, you're talking 15 to 20 percent in savings above the state's contract.

"We request you reissue or reinstate the RFP process by adding an addendum to your current RFP, make it a four-site system and any other changes you need, put it out there, give the vendors two weeks to respond and follow up with that process," Prindle said. "Then that way, you will be completing your fair and open competitive bid process."