American Rescue Plan Act dollars presented Wayne County an opportunity to address a decades-old emergency communications problem, while one official says it’s the wrong project to prioritize.
During their Oct. 16 workshop, Wayne County Council members and county commissioners heard the price tag: $3,138,294.29. That includes outfitting two new towers with 800 megahertz equipment, equipment storage buildings, generators and pagers, and mobile and portable radios for county volunteer fire departments.
“I encourage you to support that at that amount and improve public safety across Wayne County for the rest of our lives,” said Barry Ritter, a council member whose Ritter Strategic Services has worked to develop the communications plan.
Ritter’s team worked to engage subcontractors in some areas to reduce the original cost of $3.7 million from radio vendor Motorola. That includes the purchase and installation of buildings at each tower to protect equipment.
The county also is saving money by having TowerKing Communications, an Ohio-based company that builds and owns communication towers, construct the two towers. The county would then lease space on the towers. TowerKing has a lease agreement for land in the northeast portion of the county, and the county plans to lease TowerKing land at the Wayne County Highway Department facility on U.S. 40 west of Centerville for another tower.
Emergency communications have had dead zones most notably in the southwest and northeast portions of the county. Matthew Cain, director of Wayne County Emergency Management Agency, said the problem became more severe about a dozen years ago when the Federal Communications Commission mandated distance and power of very high frequency signals be cut in half.
Council member Max Smith is thankful the county can use ARPA money to pay the hefty price tag. Without it, the county would have needed to address the problem and somehow find the funding to do it.
“We’re truly blessed to have these funds available to implement this for the safety of all of our people,” Smith said.
The county included the emergency communications project in the Hoosier Enduring Legacy Program with a $1.5 million ARPA allocation. Ritter will formally present his recommendations to commissioners during their Oct. 23 meeting, then they will advance a project recommendation to council.
During the commissioners’ Oct. 16 meeting and workshop, Commissioner Jeff Plasterer demonstrated how the county could cover the shortfall with remaining and reallocated ARPA dollars and the line item created to replace ARPA money that was used on regular county expenditures rather than special projects. There’s $1,050,000 in that line item.
Plasterer said the presentation was an illustration that shows the county has enough funds to cover all of its planned projects, including a new elevator and refurbished current elevator in the courthouse. The final strategy will be decided later by commissioners and council as they keep an eye on ARPA money. Any ARPA money not spent or under contract by the end of the year must be returned.
During the morning commissioners meeting, Commissioner Mary Anne Butters expressed her unhappiness with the solution. Butters has advocated that ARPA money be used for community projects, especially for animal welfare. At one point Butters requested $500,000 in ARPA money be earmarked for animal welfare.
HELP includes an animal welfare project that began with an initial evaluation by national consultant Sara Pizano. After Pizano’s report, the county contracted with veterinarian Dr. Stacy Kostiuk to work with animal welfare agencies implementing some Pizano recommendations.
About $25,000 remains in that HELP program, and the county doubled the animal control line item in the 2025 budget to $100,000. Butters, though, said there’s no budget to resolve issues Kostiuk finds need resolving.
Butters said she’s unhappy because the county is not listening to community voices heard during public-input opportunities expressing concern for how the county treats animals in need.
A version of this article appeared in the October 23 2024 print edition of the Western Wayne News.