Vivian Sade, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

Fort Wayne and Allen County officials learned Wednesday that the long-awaited project to update the city-county 911 call center should cost several million dollars less than expected.

Members of the Consolidated Communications Partnership Board, which oversees the 911 call center, approved an agreement with Motorola to replace and install the public safety communications system for about $17 million.

Allen County Council president Larry Brown, R-4th, said the price was better than he had expected.

“We had been hearing everything from $20 million, and as high as $24 million at one time,” Brown said.

The county council has been talking about the issue for some time and has set aside money in the rainy day fund for the purchase, Brown said.

City and county officials will meet with Motorola representatives this week to negotiate a discount for a cash payment of the system – either up front or spread out over the course of the installation and completion of the project.

The system price was discounted more than $8.5 million because of a state contract and other promotional discounts. Another $2 million was offered as a loyal customer discount. Allen County and Fort Wayne have been contracting with Motorola for more than 30 years.

Fort Wayne Fire Chief Pete Kelly, president of the Consolidated Communications Partnership Board, said he was able to pare the cost down even further after he obtained a federal grant for more than $1 million, which will be used to purchase 347 new radios and upgrade 147 older radios so they will be compatible with the new system.

City Council President Tom Smith, R-1st, also liked what he heard, especially the idea of a cash discount.

He said the city council will immediately begin exploring funding options, which could include money from the rainy day account, proceeds from the lease and sale of City Light or from the $8.5 million in income tax revenue that the city recently received from the state due to a state accounting error.

The project is on a tight timeline and must be approved by city and county parties by theof June to move forward, Kelly said.

The board encouraged an aggressive schedule because of the precarious condition of the older equipment, said Fort Wayne Police Chief Rusty York, also a member of the communications board.

Fort Wayne’s cost for new radios will be $5.6 million; the county’s radio costs will be $2.9 million; and the system infrastructure cost of $8.5 million will be split equally between the two.

One unique feature of the new system is a GPS tracking system on the portable radios that will allow dispatchers to know exactly where officers are should they have to leave the patrol car to pursue suspects or investigate situations.

Officers would not have to call for backup, but simply press a button, said Dave Eischens, government director for Motorola.

In the event that an officer is down or hurt and unable to signal on his own, the signal is automatically triggered, and with the built-in GPS system, dispatchers could pinpoint the exact location immediately, Eischens said.

The system would also allow users to communicate with other similar digital systems throughout the state and country.

An estimated $2.6 million tornado siren upgrade was not included in the contract, Kelly said.

A maintenance agreement for the project would cost about $550,000 a year through 2022. The agreement includes replacement parts, repairs and updates, as well as all training and resources, Eischens said.

The maintenance agreement would cost the city and county about $5 million over the next 20 years, said County Councilman Darren Vogt, R-3rd.

“If they (Motorola) spend more than that on updates and parts, then we win; if they spend less, they win,” Vogt said.

An older but still operational portion of the current system will be used as the back-up for the new project, saving the city and county another $1 million, said Mike Reichard, supervisor of the partnership’s radio shop.

Four towers throughout the county will provide enhanced coverage to the network’s 3,500 radios, Reichard said. Towers are located on Hilligas Road, near Lake Avenue and Maysville Road and on the General Motors campus in southwest Allen County. A new tower is being constructed on north Crawford Road near I-69.

The board plans to have a design review in July, a staging of the equipment in August and installation beginning in October and continuing through August 2013. If all goes as planned, the entire system would be tested in the fall of 2013, Kelly said.

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