[November 13, 2008]

Holcomb ponders its radio options

HOLCOMB, Nov 13, 2008 (The Garden City Telegram - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --

Holcomb City Administrator Robin Pena and Holcomb City councilmen are considering ways to reduce the cost to the city as the entity prepares to make the switch with the rest of the county to the state's 800-MHz radio system.

Pena and councilmen discussed the issue Wednesday during the council meeting, with all agreeing the change is coming and allowing Pena to determine the number of radios the city will need. The change will be countywide as the area upgrades to an 800-MHz radio system.

The estimated $2.3 million cost includes dispatch equipment, fixed stations and infrastructure, systems integration, mobile and portable radios, dispatch recording equipment, contingency funds and an early system purchase discount.

The year-end balance of the E911 Fund -- generated by a .75-cent per month phone tax on land lines -- is estimated to be $957,600.

A $900,000 down payment from the phone tax would cover everything but about $140,000 of the basic equipment and infrastructure, including recording equipment but excluding radio purchases.

The entities, including Holcomb, are now trying to determine the quantity of radios, as well as how to proceed with covering the cost.

On Wednesday, Holcomb Police Chief Gordon Smith said the department's looking at purchasing three handheld radios. However, the council advised against the number, saying they felt Smith and the department would need an additional radio, taking the number up to at least four radios for the police department.

Smith said that while he thought the department could function with three radios, he also was looking at the number as a cost-saving measure.

"Instead of cutting it to death," Holcomb Mayor Jamie Jarnagin said, he advised Smith to go with an additional radio, saying he'd like the city to buy what radios are needed rather than making a purchase of one radio in the future.

At the same time as the radio switch, Pena said she'd like to see the city get rid of the seven cell phones it provides and pays for to city employees, some of whom will receive the new radios when the switch is complete. The city still is working out the total number of handheld radios it will buy.

Smith said he'd been without a cell phone before as a law enforcement officer, and "we gotta save some pennies somewhere."

Pena said she felt the new radios could take the place of the cell phones and might even work better to communicate with one another -- the radios would be readily accessible at the employee's side and requires a push of the button rather than searching for a phone number when there might not be enough time to do that, she said.

According to Pena, the city pays about $273 a month for the phones, excluding equipment costs. Last year, the city spent $3,847 for the phones and plan.

The city's at about $2,820 this year for the phones, Pena said, adding some money has been saved through employee changes and phone switches.

In other business, the city will allow USD 363 to tie into the city's water line to give the district enough water for two acres of property a year.

According to USD 363 Superintendent Robert O'Connor, the water well located behind El Rancho Cafe, 305 N. Main St., helps water the grass at both Wiley and Holcomb elementary schools, as well as the Holcomb Recreation Commission's ball fields. The school district currently has water rights and availability of 20 acre-feet of water from the well to water the grounds, O'Connor said, but the district and rec have been using more than that allocation.

Because the district and recreation commission surpassed the allotted amount, O'Connor said, the well's been shut off and can't be used until Jan. 1. In the meantime, he said, the district had been looking for another way to water a portion of the property.

The city water will be used for the two acres of grass between Wiley Elementary School and the recreation commission's ball fields.

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