A discussion on the need to upgrade and replace dozens of radios to Multi-Agency Radio Communication System (MARCS) standards was held at the weekly Wednesday meeting of the Highland County Board of Commissioners.

Dave Bushelman, director of the Highland County Emergency Management Agency (HCEMA), said that the cost to upgrade the county radios that are upgradable is $26,950, with the cost to replace the non-upgradable radios being $264,000, for a total cost of $290,950. The discussion revealed that all of this needs to be completed by July 2025.

Bushelman said HCEMA will pay $40,550 of that total out of its budget, making the cost $250,400 to upgrade and replace all the county’s radios to the MARCS specifications. He said those are the numbers in the best way he could put them together, adding there might be a few stragglers and also some departments that aren’t going to upgrade their radios.

He said no grants or federal funds are available to help with the cost.

“No and they’re not going to,” he said. “And I was at a meeting last week in Warren County. MARCS was there. The July (2025) date is a hard date and nobody sees any money coming from the state and topic of grants came up and nobody knows of any grants that this will fit and meet the timetable to get it done.”

Interim Highland County Sheriff Randy Sanders said that he thought he might have some money that could be put into the pot, adding that he thought it could even be a “significant amount” of money because it hadn’t been spent yet. He said that he was assuming it was TCAP funds. He said that while there was one project they might be looking at to use that money, it was under $12,000, leaving possible money left over.

Nicole Oberrecht, Highland County’s American Rescue Plan Act funding coordinator, said the portion that the sheriff’s office had “up to this point” would be $145,000. She said that she thought the money was on a reimbursement basis, but it also needed to be spent by June 30, 2025, after which a new round of funding might become available.

Commissioner Dave Daniels said that it looked like the group might have around $160,000 to help pay for the radios.

“I’ve been listening about MARCS radios for a year and a half now and it’s, obviously, one of those type of things that it’s a life savings thing that we have to have and I think we all need to, from EMA to sheriff to everybody, get together in whatever money you have to throw into this pot, put it into it,” commissioner Brad Roades said.

Bushelman said the state is saying that after the July 1, 2025, deadline hits, all radios that haven’t been upgraded or replaced won’t work.

He said that for the radios being upgraded, the county needs to go through JD Johnson Radio, adding that his “understanding” was that they have all the radio chips that need to go into the radios.

However, he also said it would need to be a “massive coordination” effort because JD Johnson Radio and MARCS Radio have to be there at the same time to touch the radio together. He said that means when the county is ready to upgrade, for example the Highland County Sheriff’s Office’s radios, it will take a day or two to upgrade all of their radio services.

“It’s somewhat of a logistical nightmare,” he said.

He said that the new radios are “a piece of cake” because all the county has to do is order them since they come with the new chips inside.

The commissioners said they would have Oberrecht and Bushelman meet to discuss the details of paying for the radios and return next week to reveal how they would fund them.

In other news, Highland County Health Commissioner Jared Warner revealed that the Highland County Health Department will be asking for approval to post an $0.7 million combined-reduced levy on the Nov. 5, 2024, ballot, with the deadline to file on Aug. 31, 2024. He said the cost per a property valued at $100,000 will be $25 per year, or around $2.08 per month.

Warner said his main message is that the levy will reduce the overall tax rate for property owners and reduce the overall amount of taxes the health department collects, saying he’s “hoping (it) will really resonate with people and everyone seems to be happy when taxes go down.”

He said the department was able to take advantage of state and federal government grant funding that allowed it to offset some of its normal general funds. He also said that the department’s need from the levy fluctuates each year from 40 to 50 percent.

Greenfield City Manager Todd Wilkin was in attendance to report that the village’s railroad project is finished.

“I wanted to come over and thank the commissioners for your financial commitment into that project. Without that commitment the railroad wouldn’t be where we are today,” he said.

Wilkin the final inspection is on Thursday.

Wilkin also said that 2024 is Greenfield’s 225th birthday, and that the village originally planned a celebration on July 6, but rescheduled it to Sept. 14. He said that’s because they found previous literature from the village’s 150th birthday when they held a celebration in September. Wilkin said the celebration will include a fireworks show thanks to a grant Greenfield won to help fund it.

The Rocky Fork Lake Wastewater Treatment Plant Phase II bid specifications were discussed at the meeting, with the commissioners and representatives from Environmental Engineering present to talk about what they wanted to do with each item.

The group decided that new filters would be the priority one, which would include the filter demolition. The group also decided that there would be multiple alternates including UV as priority two, digester diffusers as priority three, digester blowers as priority four, digester pumps as priority five and septage screen as priority six.

Graham Leu, a regional sales manager for IGS Energy, attended the meeting to talk about his company’s energy services. Leu recommended that with the county’s energy contract ending in May of 2026, the commissioners should look at both a direct wholesale supplier and a third party broker, the latter of which the county is currently contracted with. He said the broker adds a fee on top of the purchase, making the purchase more than it should be. The board of commissioners said they would look into that possibility and maybe speak to IGS Energy again.

Representatives from Integrity Energy attended the meeting via a phone call to give a presentation on their service. One of the representatives recommended that the next time the commissioners sign an agreement for an energy purchase, they should do so in blocks and not in one three-year purchase due to the possible savings. The board of commissioners said they would look into the proposal.

Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.