Summary
County IT and public-safety officials told commissioners at an Aug. 7 workshop that vendor scheduling problems forced the county to begin programming radio units in‑house and that the county will seek offsets or temporary contracting to cover the extra work.
County IT and public‑safety officials told commissioners at an Aug. 7 budget workshop that L3Harris, the vendor responsible for programming radio units, has not been able to meet the county’s scheduling needs. Staff said they have been programming radios in‑house to keep the project moving and expect to seek a contract offset from L3Harris for the extra work.
IT staff (Scott) told commissioners the radios in use do not include an optional remote-update feature known as OTARS; purchasing that feature would cost roughly $300 per radio and would add significant cost if applied across the several hundred radios in the county fleet. Scott said the county currently has system maintenance but does not have the per-radio feature and that that cost may be considered later, possibly paid out of grant funds rather than the general fund.
Commissioners discussed whether the county should hire a full‑time programmer to manage radio programming or continue doing it internally and pursue reimbursement from L3Harris. Several commissioners suggested approaching L3Harris for concessions, and staff agreed to seek schedule and cost remedies from the contractor. Commissioners also discussed using short‑term contractors to handle intermittent programming needs until the vendor can meet service levels.
No formal contract amendments were approved at the workshop; commissioners asked staff to document the county’s additional programming work and to pursue offsets or schedule commitments from L3Harris.
