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Officials OK $2.9M in safety system upgrades
YOUNGSTOWN
Mahoning County commissioners on Thursday approved $2.9 million purchases for a new locally hosted computer-aided dispatch system and a records-management system that will allow for real-time communication between county first responders.
The CAD system’s total cost is $766,794, plus 10 years of maintenance at an average $76,246 per year, with the first year free, to be paid through 911 and 911 assessment reserve funds.
The records-management system’s total cost is $634,278, plus 10 years of maintenance at an average $95,358.67 per year, with the first year free, paid partly through the county’s general fund and agreements with the county police departments using the system: Austintown, Canfield, Beaver, Mill Creek MetroParks, Poland Township and Milton Township.
“The project allows a shared CAD system that provides better access and sharing of information,” reads a release from commissioners. “Each [public safety answering point] will have the ability to share information along with the ability to have some customization for their unique needs.
“The [records-management system] will work in conjunction with the CAD to provide better access to the telecommunicator and the first responder.”
Sheriff Jerry Greene said workers will start installing the system early next year, but it will take “some time” to complete. A date for the system to go live has not been set.
“This is what all major law-enforcement agencies have across the country,” he said.
Commissioners also set two public hearings on the county’s 7.25-percent sales tax levy, which will come up for another five-year renewal on the May primary ballot: 10:30 a.m. Jan. 14 in the commissioners’ board hearing room on the bottom level of the Mahoning County Courthouse, 120 Market St., and 5:30 p.m. Jan. 17 at the Boardman Township Government Center, 8299 Market St.
Audrey Tillis, commissioners’ executive director, said commissioners will set further meeting dates on the levy.
The levy brings in about $25.5 million annually and is “very critical to this county,” she said Thursday.
Greene stressed the levy is a renewal, not a new tax.
“We don’t ‘need’ it to pass – it has to pass. The way it’s structured now – that’s what funds the entire sheriff’s office, the jail, dispatch and the coroner. We need to do it.”