By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
With no Barton County Commission until Oct. 26, action was still light at Wednesday's meeting at the Barton County Courthouse. The commission did vote 5-0 to approve small expenditures for Barton County Communications and the Road and Bridge Department.
911 Director Dena Popp updated the commission on three Motorola XTL5000 radio consolettes that were purchased used in April 2018. All three radios have recently stopped working, and Popp requested funds for the purchase of replacement radios.
"These radios integrate into the consoles that we use for primary channels," Popp said. "The consolettes are steerable, meaning we can change the channel from the console and not have to walk back to the radio that's in a closet to do so. In addition, being a consolette, it allows us to page off that radio, where if you just have a mobile or portable you cannot page off those."
Popp was able to find one used radio but will also need to purchase two new units. The commission approved the purchase of the new consolettes at a cost of $18,963.
The commission also voted to renew the county's annual contract with Voice Products for its maintenance agreement. In 2018, 911 partnered with the Barton County Attorney's Office for the purchase of Voice Loggers that create digital audio recordings from telephones, radios, and other sources to improve emergency services and assist in criminal prosecutions. The digital files may also be used in conjunction with the Kansas Open Records Act.
The commission agreed to renew the contract for a total price of $9,552.95, with 80 percent of those costs being paid from the 911 tax fund, and the other 20 percent paid by the county attorney's office.
And finally, in July the commission approved repairs of the county's asphalt drum assembly for a cost of $55,120 not to exceed $70,000. After an on-site inspection, the need for additional repairs was discovered at a cost of $12,500. The commission approvement funds for those repairs.
The commission will attend the Kansas Association of Counties Annual Conference in Overland Park from Oct. 17-19, so the next commission meeting will be Oct. 26 at 9 a.m. at the courthouse.