County set to upgrade 911 consoles

The product of years of saving and research, Putnam County 911 Dispatch is about to purchase a new console system.

On Tuesday, the Putnam County Council approved the purchase of a new 911 console system at the cost of $456,317.

The expenditure will purchase a Mindshare system from JES and Sons at a base price of $366,480, plus a Caliber CAD (computer-aided dispatch) system for $6,712 and a three-percent contingency for $10,995.

“This is my fourth, fifth permutation of consoles, and something always goes wrong,” Dispatch Director Dave Costin said of the contingency fund.

The remaining cost comes from a five-year maintenance plan for $57,130 and $15,000 in additional options.

The Mindshare system comes at the recommendation of the 911 advisory board as well as Costin, who noted it was the lowest bid received, but that was not the only reason for choosing this route.

The expenditure will be paid for through the Public Safety Local Income Tax Fund, with a large portion of those tax funds having been set aside for several years for this very purpose. In March, Auditor Kristina Berish noted a $1.5 million surplus in the fund.

“This is why that was there,” Council President Stephanie Campbell noted.

Though he had already explained as much to the council and the county commissioners, Costin reiterated that the current console system, which is both 15 years old and no longer has parts or service available, has become a thing of the past.

“It’s not on its last leg, but it’s going down the last flight of steps, I guess,” Costin said.

The council ultimately approved the expenditure unanimously on a motion by Danny Wallace and second by Keith Berry.

“Thank you,” Costin said afterward. “This is like a 15-year purchase. It’s not something I do all the time.”

In other business, the council:

• Approved a $124,962 change order for the Bridge 276 project in Madison Township.

The amount is to pay CSX Railroad for an extra 70 days of a flagger for the project in addition to the 100 days that was originally paid. This also included a 222-percent markup for engineering.

The irony of the situation is that the extra days were the doing of CSX, which required the old bridge to be taken down piece by piece.

The original estimate by contractor White Construction was contingent upon the track simply being shut down for a few days for the bridge to come down more rapidly.

In reviewing the same matter last month, the Putnam County Commissioners were certainly displeased by the development, but chose not to pursue legal action, as CSX is within its right to do such things.

However, the council discussed ways to avoid such issues in the future. County Engineer Jim Peck said that more due diligence needed to be performed by the county and its contractors about how long a job would take place based on requirements by the railroad.

• Approved $11,000 in funding to help develop a plan for a park on the south shore of Glenn Flint Lake in Clinton Township.

All told, the plan will cost $44,000, with the Little Walnut Conservancy District paying $22,000, the Putnam County Convention and Visitors Bureau paying $11,000 and the county paying the remaining $11,000.

• Approved a cost increase for the county’s annual contribution to West Central Solid Waste District.

In the coming year, the cost is going up 25 cents per resident to $2.50 per person.

With 36,726 residents according to the 2020 census, that’s a total cost to the county of $91,815.

On Monday, the commissioners also approved the increase.

Campbell, Wallace and Berry were joined for the meeting by fellow council members Jay Alcorn, Larry Parker and Wayne Huffman. Councilman Phil Gick was absent.

The next monthly session of the Putnam County Council is set for 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 16.