Marshfield Explores Different Plan for New Police Radios
Wednesday, July 25th, 2018 -- 9:26 AM
(WDLB) -Marshfield officials will explore a different--and potentially less-expensive--plan for getting better radios into the hands of police.With Alderman Jason Zaleski absent, the Marshfield Common Council voted 9-0 last night in favor of directing city staff to further investigate a proposal floated by Police Chief Rick Gramza, in which the city would scrap a four-year phase-in of a new radio system, get all the equipment now, and pay for it over five to six years.
"Based on the way that the numbers looked and the financing, it was going to be appropriate or respectable, the numbers that we were potentially looking at and any finance fees that would result from that purchase were not so significant to where it made this a bad deal."
Gramza said the overall cost of the plan would be 683-thousand dollars under the lease option, versus 765-thousand dollars for a four-year phase-in option. Gramza also said the vendor--Green Bay-based Baycom Corporation--would require 10-percent down, or 68-thousand this year.
"All we'd be looking at, and I'm just throwing ball parks out there, is about $125-$130 thousand dollars of the $195 thousand that we budgeted. So, we're still, I guess, under budget this year, whether this body chose to make a bigger down payment and reduce our annual cost. But it would be roughly then $71,000 for the fire department and about $64,000 for the police department, which would be due at the end of each year, so the next payment wouldn't be due until fall or early winter of 2019 and it would be the 64 for the police and 71 for the fire and it would follow that for the next five years."
Marshfield aldermen had voted last month in favor of a budget resolution redirecting 190-thousand dollars to cover the installation of a simulcast system that was initially earmarked for purchasing new portable radios for police. Alderman Tom Witzel said the potential cost-saving is worth another look at the overall police communication system.
"I personally think with the issues we have with the communication, it's not just a police officer issue, it's a citizen issue. We rely on these officers to be able to communicate for the safety of our citizens. I think it's worth our effort to dig into this and see if this is a doable thing to resolve this issue once and for all and then get it paid over the next few years. So, I definitely think this is worth the time and effort."
The police radio issue came to light last year when the Marshfield Police Department discovered their portable radios were not working from certain areas of the city.
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