Funding Granted for New Radio System in Henderson, N.C.

(TNS) – HENDERSON — The Vance County Fire and Rescue Association has asked for a Radio Interoperability System, which would “allow them to use their pagers” and still receive vital information through the 800 megahertz radios.

The County Commissioners’ Public Safety Committee passed the request along at their Wednesday meeting, recommending a budget amendment to cover the cost, around $63,000. That cost will change as an updated quote is needed.

“This system is a life saver,” Fire Marshal Chris Wright said. Sheriff Curtis Brame agreed. Wright said no equipment other than what was requested would be needed in order to install the system.

There was some discussion over where exactly that money should come from. County Manager Jordan McMillen said he and other staff members favored using the fire fund — which is funded by a tax surcharge paid by rural residents.

Commissioner Dan Brummitt disagreed.

“So, instead of let’s keep picking on the fire fund, why doesn’t this come from the general fund,” Brummitt said, arguing for a source that Henderson residents also pay into.

Finance Director Katherine Bigelow asked why he didn’t want to dip into that fund.

“Because, the fire tax, we’ve been picking on it pretty hard, reserves are getting low,” he responded.

Bigelow said the fire fund is “projected” to be around $632,000. Brummitt said the fire tax was increased two years in order to “stabilize” its cash flow.

“If we set a precedent and start putting these things in it, the fire tax is gonna be a catch all for everything,” Brummitt said. Around “80%” of calls to the fire department are non-fire related, Brummitt said, meaning responding firefighters are helping emergency services.

“EMS is a county responsibility, it’s not a fire department responsibility,” Brummitt said.

“Either way, we have the funds, we can make it work either way,” McMillen said. “The question is, what makes you feel more comfortable, where it comes from?”

The committee passed along the item as a recommendation.

The Vance County Rescue Squad made a request for a one-time, up front payment of $7,500 which will enable the department “to set up a new checking account for payroll only and lessen the burden of a financial strain on an already tight budget,” Chief Doyle Carpunky said.

That sort of up front money is available to all other volunteer fire departments in the county.

“So we’ll take that recommendation to the full board, basically to authorize staff to provide a one-time, upfront payment,” McMillen said, adding that “would be from the fire fund,” McMillen said.

The exact amount of money would be “whatever the monthly allocation would be,” McMillen said, so around $7,800.

“If it’s [$7,800], $8,000, whatever it is, just make it right,” Brummitt said.

The Rescue Squad made another request for a capital allocation of $20,000 to pursue a 50-50 matching grant and obtain what Carpunky said would be “$50,000’s worth of much needed equipment that would only cost our department $25,000,” thus “saving our citizens and getting more for less.”

This would require a budget amendment.

Brummitt questioned whether the funding should be taken from the fire fund and not the general fund, which is “generally where that stuff usually comes from.”

McMillen said the capital allocation could come from the general fund.

Both requests were recommended, meaning they’ll be on the agenda for the next County Commissioners meeting in September.

The last item on the committee’s agenda was a review of a draft of a request for qualifications for the jail and space facility needs assessment the commissioners approved at their meeting in August at Brame’s request.

Brame said at the commissioners’ Aug. 1 meeting that the detention center was constructed in 1991 as an addition to the existing jail that was built in the 1950s. The jail is “outdated” and “antiquated,” according to Brame, who said the structure of the facility lacks proper design for segregation, quarantine or isolation for detainees with behavior issues or for those who are ill.

Brummitt and McMillen agreed that staff should strengthen the RFQ’s wording so as to ensure the company conducting the assessment will address the possibility of jail regionalization.

No approval from committee members was needed.

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