Dodge County board approves $45,660 study to assess public-safety radio system

The Dodge County Board of Supervisors on April 15 approved a $45,660 budget amendment and hired a consultant to study the countypublic-safety radio communications system, citing recurring coverage gaps that have hindered emergency response.

Emergency Management Director Joel Maher and Dale, who manages dispatch for Dodge County, told supervisors the countyoperates a nine-tower VHF system with a limited, single encrypted P25 channel for sheriff tactical operations and persistent dead zones across the county. "We are doing the best that we can with what we have in place," Maher said. "We do not want to make decisions that 2 or 3 years down the road come back to bite us." Dale described multiple incidents where radios failed to transmit critical information, including an attempted homicide response in June 2024 in which on-scene commanders repeatedly could not be understood over the radio. "I can't…