The Marshall County Council members reviewed an additional appropriation request Monday morning for radio dispatch consoles for the Marshall County Jail. The request was for $518,790 out of the LIT Special Purpose Fund for four of those consoles from Motorola Solutions.
Sheriff Matt Hassel said the consoles currently date back to 2008 and operate on a non-supported system.
“Unfortunately, they’re still running on the Operating System of XP,” stated Hassel. “We’re all moving to System 10 now. Nobody has them anymore. It’s end of life. They don’t support them. If we have a problem, we’re not going to get it back.”
This allows the county to remain with the Motorola communication radio system to keep radio equipment uniform.
Additionally, Sheriff Hassel asked for an additional appropriation of $84,511 out of the Central Dispatch Fund to include back-up console.
Hassel continued, “That additional would put a full console over here in the EMA office. That way if we do go down out at the jail – all systems go down, we have a complete back-up so we can continue our services.”
The council members approved both requests with a unanimous vote.
Hassel noted that the commissioners will review a contract next week and once that is approved, the project will begin. He said one console will be installed at a time so others are operational to engage the needs of the public.
