BENTONVILLE -- Benton County's justices of the peace will have a special meeting Tuesday to gather information and hear concerns about the county's proposed new emergency communications system.
The Quorum Court's Public Safety Committee will meet at 6 p.m. to consider the proposal to buy a new communication system, at a cost of nearly $5 million. The special meeting was called after some justices of the peace said they weren't familiar enough with the project and they had heard from constituents who voiced concerns about the cost to smaller cities whose police and fire department will be required to buy new radios to be part of the new system.
What’s next
Benton County’s Finance Committee will meet Thursday to discuss how to pay for a proposed new communications system that could cost nearly $5 million. The committee will meet at 6 p.m. in the Quorum Courtroom in the County Administration Building, 215 E. Central Ave in Bentonville.
Source: Staff report
Adriane Carr, justice of the peace for District 12, requested a meeting to consider the radio system proposal. District 12 is in western Benton County and includes parts of Siloam Springs, Gentry and surrounding areas. Carr said she understands the project has been under consideration for many years but said there are several justices of the peace who are relatively new to the Quorum Court and don't have as much background as longer-serving members. Carr also said she wants to give others a chance to weigh in on the project.
"I have been getting a lot of thoughts and concerns from constituents," Carr said. "That's why I thought it would be a good idea to have some discussion, just to give people a chance to express their thoughts and to learn about what's being proposed."
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 county would buy seven new consoles for the county's dispatch center, along with 356 mobile radios for county vehicles, 601 portable radios for individuals and 175 pagers for the rural fire departments.
Benton County would also buy 27 mobile radios, which are kept in vehicles, and 27 portable radios, which are carried by individuals, for city fire departments that operate county-owned fire apparatus.
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, Capt. Kenny Paul of the Sheriff's Office told the Quorum Court in August. 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.
Chief Vester Cripps with the Gentry Fire Department is also president of the Benton County Fire Protection Association, an organization that works with county government and all of the fire departments in the county. Cripps said none of the smaller fire departments, including Gentry, have the resources to pay for the new radios.
"We'll have to figure it out. We don't have it," Cripps said.
According to information presented by the Sheriff's Office to the Quorum Court, Gentry's Fire Department would need 12 mobile radios, 32 portable radios and 20 pagers with an estimated cost of $57,680. The Gentry Police Department would need 12 mobile radios and 12 portable radios costing $27,480.
Cripps said his department typically has about $3,500 in its annual budget to buy new radios or repair the ones currently in use. He said the smaller fire departments around the county are in similar situations.
"The general consensus is the same as mine," he said. "We can't afford it."
Pea Ridge Mayor Jackie Crabtree said his city will also struggle if the proposed new radio system is put in place. According to the county, Pea Ridge would need $60,255 for its fire department and $41,220 for its police department.
"We would probably have to cut somewhere else," Crabtree said.
Crabtree said his police and fire chiefs had talked to the county about the radio project "a couple of years ago" but his city wasn't actively involved.
"We knew they were going to do something," he said. "We didn't have any idea when or how much it was going to cost."
Crabtree said Pea Ridge will have to work with the county, since the city has no communications system of its own and couldn't afford to establish one.
"To purchase equipment and hire people would be much more than the radios would cost," Crabtree said.
Joel Jones, justice of the peace for District 7 and chairman of the Public Safety Committee, said he understands the need for the newer justices of the peace to be more fully briefed on the project. Seven of the Quorum Court's 15 members are in their first terms.
"Justice Carr is correct," Jones said. "We have several JPs who haven't heard this conversation before. They've gotten some pushback from their constituents and they need to be able to answer them. This is a large decisions, it's a very important decision."
NW News on 09/03/2018