Belton and South Metro approve MOU to share Honeywell station-alerting equipment

Belton City Council approved an ordinance authorizing a memorandum of understanding between the Belton Fire Department and South Metropolitan Fire Protection District to outline the location, use and access to Honeywell station-alerting gateway equipment.

At the meeting, a presenter identified as a fire department official described the item as the next step in implementing a station-alerting upgrade tied to the department’s CAD (computer-aided dispatch) system. The presenter said South Metro’s system was already installed and operational and that sharing equipment and splitting primary/backup server roles with South Metro would reduce redundancy, lower upfront costs and improve resiliency by separating servers into different facilities. The presenter asked the council for a double read because equipment delivery and some installations were already underway.

Staff said the arrangement could reduce long-term update costs depending on how many other area fire departments choose to join the shared system; the South Metro chief agreed to host equipment in Belton on that basis. Council approved the ordinance on second reading and recorded a roll-call vote with unanimous approval.

The MOU covers technical and operational details for accessing and maintaining Honeywell station-alerting gateway equipment and allocates responsibilities for equipment updates and cost sharing among participating agencies. The presenter said stations began installation the same day and that the agreement would be recorded so the departments could move forward with server placement and integration into dispatch workflows.