BENTONVILLE -- Benton County officials see the benefits of buying a new emergency radio and dispatch system that would be connected to a statewide network.
But a change would be difficult for other police and fire departments in the county because they would have to find funds to buy new equipment.
Benton County Sheriff Shawn Holloway is asking the Quorum Court to spend nearly $5 million for a new system for the sheriff's office and jail, the Road Department, emergency services, the coroner's office and the county's rural fire service, which will distribute the equipment among the county's smaller fire departments.
The new radios would not cover the needs of fire and police departments in the smaller cities. The smaller cities would need to buy all new radios and equipment to be compatible with the new county system, said Capt. Kenny Paul of the sheriff's office.
"We're not going to run both systems," Paul said. "There's not going to be an option once we turn the system on."
The new system will connect with the communications network established by the state, the Arkansas Wireless Information Network. That system is used by the Arkansas State Police, the Game and Fish Commission, the Arkansas Trauma System, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as well as a number of police and fire departments across the state.
In Northwest Arkansas, Fayetteville police and fire already use the system.
Greg Tabor, Fayetteville police chief, said the entire city communications system switched over to the Arkansas Wireless Information Network system in 2012 at a cost of about $6 million.
"Our old system had some dead spots," Tabor said. "I'm not going to say it's 100 percent, but it's much better coverage than it was."
Tabor said the statewide reach of the system is also useful.
"I can pick up my radio in Little Rock and talk to someone back here just like I'm sitting in my office," he said.
The Pulaski County sheriff's office and the North Little Rock Police Department are also part of the statewide network.
Barry Moehring, county judge of Benton County, told the justices of the peace last week that Northwest Arkansas cities have been informed of the county's plans.
"They're not necessarily thrilled with it," he said.
The governing body's finance committee will meet at 6 p.m. Sept. 4, in the Quorum Court room at the County Administration Building, 215 E. Central Ave. in Bentonville, to discuss the proposal.
Each new mobile radio costs about $1,295, according to information presented to the Quorum Court's Finance Committee. Each portable radio costs about $995. Pagers cost about $695 each.
The costs vary for the cities affected, depending on the number of radios needed. Pea Ridge would need $60,255 for its Fire Department and $41,220 for its Police Department. Centerton would need $58,280 for its Fire Department and $68,700 for its Police Department.
Pea Ridge Mayor Jackie Crabtree said his city has been involved in talks with the county, and he understands the county's needs. Crabtree said replacing all of the police and fire department radios at one time is not a part of his normal budget.
"That's going to be incredibly hard to come up with," he said of the estimated cost for new radios. "We struggle to maintain what we've got now. We budget for a few replacement radios as we need to. We just recently bought some new equipment. We bought a certain type of radio thinking that's what they were going to be using."
Centerton Mayor Bill Edwards said his city will find the money, even if it means borrowing it, to get all of the needed equipment in place. Edwards said he thinks the county could do more for city fire departments, as it has for the rural, volunteer departments.
"We all have fire pagers," Edwards said. "They're going to give them to the volunteer departments, but not the city departments. I disagree with that, especially when we respond out into the county. We all have mutual aid agreements, and we respond whenever somebody else needs us."
The Rogers police and fire departments plan to switch to a new system similar to the one Benton County is considering.
Metro on 08/15/2018