County Commissioners agrees to use American Rescue Plan money to pay for 911 Center upgrades, more efficient equipment for sheriff’s office

By Laura Schiermeier, Staff Writer
Posted 12/8/21

MARIES COUNTY — Maries County is taking advantage of the big amount of cash coming its way with the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), money from the federal government. The county’s …

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County Commissioners agrees to use American Rescue Plan money to pay for 911 Center upgrades, more efficient equipment for sheriff’s office

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MARIES COUNTY — Maries County is taking advantage of the big amount of cash coming its way with the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), money from the federal government. The county’s allocation is $1.6 million and already it was received $800,000 and it’s in the bank waiting to be spent. How to spend it has been on the minds of the county commissioners from the very first notification of it.

At meetings last week, the county commission gave its nod of approval to spend over $500,000 of this money to make important and necessary upgrades to the county’s 911 Dispatch Center and for more modern equipment for the sheriff’s office, deputies and cars. Presiding Commissioner Victor Stratman said these improvements will help everyone in the county. 

Courthouse IT Manager Shane Sweno spoke to the commissioners about the new radio system. He said the current system was purchased about10 years ago for about $130,000. Now, that old radio system is at the end of its life. Sweno said parts to repair it are scarce and there is no guarantee of getting the needed parts. He said this is an important upgrade, which will have Maries County using “the latest and the greatest.” It will allow the county to tie directly into the state’s radio network, MOSWIN, using the state’s radio towers. They briefly talked about getting rid of the tower that is located at the courthouse, but Sweno stated it will still be used to tone fire and ambulance agencies.

The price tag on the new radio system is $273,722 and they need to sign/commit to the purchase this month for the Motorola system and accessories to receive a small discount on the price. Sweno estimated the new system will be sufficient for at least another 10 years. 

Sweno said they talked about updating radios to Motorola. There will be labor and programming involved. He’s waiting on a quote for seven radios and thinks this may cost about $8,000. 

Eastern District Commissioner Doug Drewel said, “Where’s it going to stop,” and Sweno replied that they are very close. They have been fortunate to receive about $270,000 in grants and with the ARPA money they can finally make these improvements. 

Sweno said they also need a new 911 rack. Originally he thought the existing one could be used. Since they are not using the old rack they will need to buy a SPS battery. This will add around $1,200 to the total.

Drewel said the commissioners need to regroup and look at some of the numbers. Stratman said the county has $800,000 now and won’t get the other half until May. Drewel said it’s a lot of money. Sweno said the money has provided an opportunity. He asked them if they can imagine how the county would have paid for this equipment. 

County Clerk Rhonda Rodgers said, “We couldn’t pay for it.”

They briefly discussed a warranty and decided to pass on it. Sweno said the citizens of Maries County will benefit greatly from the equipment and technology upgrades they are making. Drewel agreed, saying, “This is the only time it’s going to be done,” adding all citizens benefit from 911 and the sheriff’s office. 

They asked Sweno for detailed costs of the equipment. He came back a little later with a total cost of $780,000. Of this about $538,000 will be paid with ARPA money from the federal government. The remainder was from prior grant wards so the entire project was done without accessing any general revenue funds. Western District Commissioner Ed Fagre said with this expenditure, “We should be good for ten years.”

Treasurer Rhonda Slone said Fund 56 is the ARPA money. The commissioners also want to hear from Chief Deputy Major Scott John about what the sheriff’s office is buying. 

Sheriff’s office plans

At the next county commission meeting, Scott John came to inform the commissioners about what he’s been working on with the equipment upgrades. They have 10 new laptops which Sweno is working on setting up. These were purchased with a grant from the Department of Highway Safety at a cost of about $33,000. The county did not have to pay a match with this as the grant paid for it all. 

With the ARPA money all the patrol vehicles have a repeater that works well with the Motorola radios and connects to their patrol vehicles. The mobile radios in the vehicle are much more powerful at transmitting and the repeater allows them to use that to transmit and receive over the county’s MOSWIN frequency. John said every deputy now has a MOSWIN capable portable radio to wear on duty. With the portable radios alone they could only reach about 500 feet. The repeaters cost $4,000 per vehicle and the result of the improved range, “A significant officer safety issue has been fixed,” John told the commissioners. 

Major John also talked about the upgrades to the deputies in-car camera system, Watchguard. With the Watchguard system, a deputy can pull up to the courthouse and connect wirelessly with the antenna on the courthouse and load information from the car to a server in the building. The deputy does not have to come inside and it will work unattended. John said the deputies can pull up, connect and download. Also, with the laptops in the vehicles, deputies can do reports from the vehicle and transmit them to the server on a different drive. The deputies will be able to run traffic stops in their cars, allowing them to run license plates and check for active warrants on the state’s MULES network.

The body cameras the deputies wear cost about $150, which is one of the lower cost cameras but John said they have night and day vision, not a big memory, but they saved money by buying cheaper cameras. They have to be turned on to use and have both video and audio. He said technology is rugged but still only lasts a couple of years and he would like to purchase new ones for the entire staff and phase them in as needed. Commissioner Stratman said he thinks they need body cameras. John said locally they’ve seen the camera exonerate a deputy accused if something. He said the body cameras protect the public and the police officer. 

The deputies vehicles now all have Stalker radar units installed. Major John is also outfitting their portable radios with earpieces at a cost of $9,000. Medical equipment expenses are $6,000. They briefly discussed NARCAN naloxone nasal spray, which John said they’ve had to restock multiple times as all of the deputies have had to use NARCAN on a opioid overdose victim. 

The road deputies are required to wear vests. John said there is a grant he’s applying for to possibly pay for half of the cost of the vests. Also it is possible the local Maries County Law Enforcement Restitution Fund could be used for vests if that board approves it. That fund was checked and it contains $28,891. 

With all of these expenses, with the help of grants, Major John said they will use about $45,000 of the ARPA money. 

Warranty required

Sweno was present during Major John’s conversation with the commissioners. He had a little more to add. With the Motorola radios, a software update is required to be on the state’s MOSWIN radio network. The warranty is $12,000 a year for the software, which they can pay for seven years out with the ARPA money. There is a small discount for paying for it all upfront. Wireless USA offered a hardware warranty at a substantial discount from the Motorola option and they discussed purchasing that for $4,200 a year. The cost for the software update warranty and the radio system itself is $348,770. 

Fagre said if they can buy seven years of the software warranty with the ARPA money, they’d best do it. 

Folks buy our meals

Major John spoke briefly about how well the Belle Division of the sheriff’s office is working there. He said the deputies get compliments all the time. “Folks buy our meals a lot,” he said. “It happens all the time.” 

Commissioner Stratman said, “That’s a good sign.”

John said they are meeting with the Belle Mayor Josh Seaver about the new contract. The sheriff’s office will be asking for a little more pay for the deputies and an increase in the fuel budget. The Belle Division fuel budget is $16,765 and it was exceeded in October. 

Autopsies

The commissioners were notified of an $150 increase in the cost of autopsies to $2,300 each. The commissioners asked who makes the decision to have an autopsy. Major John said the coroner or the sheriff’s office if they aren’t 100 percent sure of the cause of death. Or the family can order the autopsy and pay for it themselves. 

BRO bridge project

MoDOT’s Douglas Thomas, a senior construction inspector, along with Zach Honse, met with the commissioners about the county’s current Off-System Bridge Replacement Program (BRO) project on MCR 608. Thomas said the project is for 90 working days and the county’s notice to proceed date was Nov. 15, 2021, which probably needs to be amended.

Also, he said someone has to decide if any particular day is a working day or not. Someone has to be in charge. Fagre said he thinks it’s the engineer. Thomas said his role is this project is to make sure the contractor is doing what he is supposed to do. Thomas said he does not do inspections. Fagre said he believes MECO Engineering’s Alan Scheperle is supposed to be at the project site every day. 

Thomas said the work days need to be documented. Six hours of productive work in a day is considered a “working day.” They don’t want to get into a situation of being out of work days on the project and still not finished. He said they need paperwork to back up decisions of not to work a day/days and why. 

Thomas said he will issue another letter to amend the notice to proceed date and they can get with the contractor or MECO. He thinks Dec. 1, 2021 is a good date. Fagre said the contractor, Mera Construction, was held up at another job. 

Thomas talked to Rhonda Rodgers about how to process invoices. He said he must stress all persons on the site need to be wearing approved safety equipment. The reason is there is federal money being used on the BRO bridge project and the feds require it. 

The road will be closed at the construction site while the bridge is being replaced. Stratman said there’s not much traffic there. Drewel replied with good weather the project should go fast.

Slab work

Drewel said he has two replacement projects on the east side. One on MCR 317 a slab is being replaced. It is 170 feet long and 18 feet wide. On MCR 517, the slab has been torn out and a new 85 ft. one is being put in. Drewel said the old slab had a crack in it. Stricklan Foundation and Flatwork is doing the work.

Miscellaneous 

Stratman reported there is money to borrow, about $750,000 available in the revolving loan fund at MRPC at an interest rate of two percent.

There has been an easing of the rules for the ARPA money. If the county and its administrator, in this case MRPC, believes the expenses they use the money for are a qualified expenditure and the money is spent, if the rules later change, the county won’t be penalized or forced to pay it back.

Sweno said there are no changes in the final CAD contract and it just needs to be signed. This is the 911 portion of the system, which ties in all the records management, jail management, and all the software. Rolla has to sign it as well then it will be sent to Central Square. 

When talking about other entities that need radios, Sweno suggested Vienna PD, Vienna Fire and MOAD. Stratman said in his mind they are next on the list. They talked about radios for the road districts. Fagre said Road One workers primarily use cell phones. Drewel said the radios in the heavy equipment get badly vibrated and there is constantly something wrong with them. The last couple of years they just use their cell phones. 

Vienna License Office Manager Jennifer Roberson brought new license office employee, Nicole Bexten, to be introduced to the commissioners.

About the employee health insurance, Fagre said he thinks the county should keep the policy it has as a base and let the employees who want to buy up. Drewel said nobody is complaining about it. Stratman said it went up 3.9 percent, and “that’s how it goes. I’m good with it.” The county will continue to pay 80 percent of the premiums for employees, except for the buy-up. The employee plans are option 27 for $679.25 or option 10 for $795.66, both per month per employee.

Stratman said MRPC is trying to get Three River Electric and the other electric co-ops within the county to put a survey on internet availability in with the co-op’s billing statements. They also are hoping the assessor can send the survey out with the assessment lists. 

Major John said the jail population at this time is the heaviest he’s ever seen it. The women prisoners had to be housed elsewhere because they have so many male inmates. The county is paying over $100 a day to house the women in another jail facility.

Building and grounds

A new mini-split, which is both a heater and an air conditioner, was put in the 911 Dispatch Center. The old one was leaking water. The mini-split is a heat pump, Daikin brand and won’t need to use the water heater. The cost was $5,356. 

Duck tape was used to put the exterior Christmas lights at the very top of the courthouse. The commissioners are concerned with the residue the tape will leave on the rock surface of the building, which will dry and hold dirt. It was noted many of the lights are not working, for whatever reason. They were new lights.