Shawano County officials agreed to use the county’s contingency fund to pay its share of a grant that will update several pieces of equipment in the dispatch center.
Members of the executive committee voted June 17 to pull $70,582.90 from its coffers, its share of a $705,829 grant received from the Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs Office of Emergency Communications.
Kasey Cross, communications supervisor, said the grant money will help cover the costs of upgrades to the dispatch radio consoles and backup consolettes, upgrades to the phone system and an online subscription to improve the efficiencies of mutual aid fire dispatching.
Upgrades to the dispatch consoles will better incorporate the tools that are available with the radio upgrade the sheriff’s department did in January.
The dispatch center phone system currently operates on the Motorola Callworks platform and has about five years left on a contract with the company.
Motorola has decided to discontinue development of the Callworks system, but it is contractually obligated to honor the contract.
Cross said Motorola will credit the county for all money paid to purchase the Callworks program if the county upgrades now.
Within five years, the county would need to update the system, but the grant money must be used this year, she said. Costs are expected to be significantly higher if the county waits five years to upgrade the system.
“I think it’s just more common sense to invest in this now than wait four years down the road and pay so much more money, because we know prices are going to go up, and we’re not guaranteed the grants,” Sheriff George Lenzner said.
Finally, the grant would cover a subscription to the HIEBA software application specifically related to mutual aid for fire dispatching.
The software would replace a series of three-ring binders dispatchers must manually page through when calling out mutual aid equipment and manpower requests.
The county’s public safety committee agreed May 6 to accept the grant and forward it to the executive committee.
kpasson@newmedia-wi.com
