Floyd County moves toward bonding for communications system

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Floyd County supervisors continued progress at their meeting this week toward issuing bonds to pay up to about $5 million for a new countywide emergency radio communications system.

After being introduced to the radio communications system idea at last week’s meeting, the supervisors heard from their bond counsel and the county’s bond underwriter at their meeting Monday morning.

Attorney John Danos, a partner at Dorsey & Whitney law firm of Des Moines, said emergency communications “is clearly defined in the list of essential county purposes that the Legislature has set forth, and as an essential county purpose you are able to do general obligation debt with just a public hearing,” he said.

“You’ll put a notice in the newspaper, invite folks to, of course, come and give comment, to help advise the board, but it is simply an advisory process. Ultimately it’s up to a majority of the board of supervisors to make the determination,” Danos said.

The county has received a bid to install the county on the Iowa Statewide Interoperable Communications System (ISICS). That bid came from Motorola Solutions Inc., the company that won the initial state bid to install ISICS beginning in 2015.

The county bid was for $4.35 million, and includes significant discounts if approved along with a maintenance contract by Aug. 24.

Danos, attending the meeting by phone, said approving the bond sale could be as done as quickly as a couple of weeks, as soon as the board meets the notification requirements for a public hearing and holds the hearing.

Heidi Kuhl, director of public finance with Northland Securities, said issuing the bonds could probably be done within about eight weeks. She was also attending the meeting electronically.

County emergency responders, especially fire departments and law enforcement agencies, have been working for several years on trying to improve a patched-together radio system that they say has serious deficits, is unable to communicate between the dispatch department located at the county courthouse and various areas of the county, and even within areas of Charles City.

The Floyd County Communications Advisory Board and the county 911 Service Board had agreed at a meeting held earlier this month to ask the supervisors to pay most of the cost to join ISICS, which would include a new radio tower to be built at or near the Fossil and Prairie Preserve at a high spot near Rockford, needed changes in equipment at the dispatch center and at the existing radio tower at the Charles City City Hall, mobile radios for vehicles, handheld radios, pagers, installation and training.

Supervisors asked several times at the meeting Monday if the amount proposed would be enough to ensure the system could be installed.

All three supervisors agreed they could not have another situation like the county Law Enforcement Center and courthouse update project where the cost ended up being significantly more than the amount of bonds that had been approved.

According to the proposal offered by Shari Schmitz, senior account manager for Iowa with Motorola Solutions Inc., the list cost of the system is more than $6 million, but discounts on installation, training and hardware that are part of the state contract brings that down to $4.77 million.

If the county signs a 10-year lease to own contract for the system by Aug. 24 and also agrees to a five-year service agreement, the price would be $4.35 million.

Ben Chatfield, chief of the Floyd Volunteer Fire Department, who has taken a lead role in working toward a new communications system, said the system comes with a one-year warranty and the radios come with a three-year warranty.

He said they plan to contact other counties on the ISICS system to see their experience with the equipment and decide what kind of a service contract they need, if any.

At a minimum, he said, they will want the software support contract, because the software is updated every two years and Motorola also provides any equipment updates needed to use the new system if you have a contract.

If they don’t take the full maintenance contract, the discount offered by motorola will likely be reduced, which is why the board recommended the $4.95 million potential price.

The group also discussed that the new tower could be a source of revenue, by leasing space to other agencies or companies that need tower access.

Chatfield said some prices he had seen are between $1,700 and $2,500 a month for tower access, potentially raising around $100,000 annually if four spots could be leased.

Kuhl said they would come up with a “not to exceed” amount to authorize the bond sale, but if they didn’t need it all they wouldn’t have to issue the entire amount. She also said the bond sale could be split into two parts to better estimate how much was needed to complete the project.

The bond money could also be invested until needed, she said. The only stipulation is that since they are tax-free bonds, the county can’t earn more in interest than it is paying.

Kuhl said she would put together some options for the supervisors to look at.

The board took no action on the topic Monday, but Chair Kuhn called it a good discussion and said, “I think we’re all in agreement that we’re moving toward a public hearing.”