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Fire department seeks portable radio replacements; Motorola rep outlines LTE‑enabled radios and tax‑note funding for hardware
Summary
Fire staff recommended replacing aging portable and mobile radios with newer LTE‑capable units and requested the council consider using tax‑note funds to pay hardware costs; Motorola said new radios can automatically switch to LTE or preconfigured Wi‑Fi when outside radio coverage.
Highland Village fire officials asked the City Council on July 8 to approve replacement of aging portable and mobile radios and to use tax‑note proceeds to cover most of the hardware cost.
Chief Green (fire chief) said the department’s current Apex 7000 XE radios are past end‑of‑life and that parts and manufacturer support are limited. Fire staff presented a multiyear replacement plan and recommended the city use available tax‑note funding to purchase hardware first and plan software and ongoing fees as part of subsequent operating budgets.
Jonathan, a Motorola account representative, explained the newer radios include “smart” features such as an LTE backup mode that allows the radio to move to a cellular or preprogrammed Wi‑Fi connection when the radio system signal is poor. Jonathan said, "The older radios will still work on the radio system, but the newer radios will also work with the radio system" and that the LTE/Wi‑Fi connection must be to approved and programmed networks rather than arbitrary public Wi‑Fi.
Costs and proposed funding: Fire staff told the council portable and mobile replacements total about $420,000 for the fire department. Staff recommended using $266,000 of existing tax‑note proceeds to cover most of the portable hardware purchases and noted the software piece totals about $49,000 with recurring annual software/maintenance of about $9,000.
Other operational benefits and considerations: Chief Green highlighted that the modernized radios would improve in‑building and hard‑to‑reach coverage because the new units can fall back to LTE and programmed Wi‑Fi in buildings where signals are poor. Staff also said the city plans to retain existing older units for use in storm response and temporary operations where full‑feature radios are not required.
Council questions and next steps: Council members asked about how the radios select Wi‑Fi and whether they could automatically latch to arbitrary networks; Jonathan said the radios will only connect to networks that are preconfigured in the radio system programming. Council also discussed planning for the equipment purchase versus the ongoing software budget and the potential to phase replacement as part of a multiyear plan to reduce annual impacts.
Ending: Council did not take an immediate purchase vote on July 8. Staff said they would return with final hardware recommendations and a phased funding plan tied to tax‑note resources and the FY2026 operating budget.
