GREENBRIER COUNTY W.Va. (WVDN) – The Greenbrier County Commission met on Friday, December 1st to discuss the contracts with Motorola for upgrades to the county 911 center and operations equipment.
The Vesta part of the contract was approved, for $685,619, to upgrade the phone system equipment.
The other two parts of the contracts, for the consoles and tower, were not discussed. Instead, the commission recessed the meeting to be continued another day.
On Dec. 7 the commission reconvened their special meeting to discuss the two parts: the Consoles and the Tower/microwave dish.
President Tammy Tincher stated, “The console upgrades is – the largest and most important part of the Motorola contract.”
The importance was further expressed by technical advisor Jordan Clendenen when he said, “The portable consoles can be moved into the Mobile Command Center as needed.”
The commission voted to approve this $2,229,575 contract. Commissioner Lowell Rose stated, “We have figured out funding as much as we can right now.” And commissioner Blaine Philips said, “Coming up with the funds is pretty clear to me.”
The last part that needed to be addressed was the construction of a new tower on Muddy Creek Mountain with a microwave dish. Engineering for this construction has been part of the hold-up of contract approvals.
Motorola was a state-approved and statewide used supplier for equipment and since their equipment was formerly used by the 911 center it made sense to use their brand and continue the satisfactory relationship.
This also prevented the use of a bidding process that is very time extending, requiring newspaper notices and meetings to choose the lowest bid.
The county commission is considering using a state-approved company to do the tower and building construction. This will streamline the engineering as well once the property has been purchased and the driveway identified.
With the engineering and tower construction costs still unknown, the Aviat part of the contract for the microwave dish was approved finally for $60,000 with a 10-year maintenance contract.
