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Pine County approves dispatch paging upgrade; $119,369 Motorola console purchase uses E911 and state funds
Summary
The county board approved a $119,369 dispatch paging upgrade to enable full paging across dispatch consoles, funded from existing E911 and state allocations; the purchase was presented as a necessary equipment upgrade with no new county funds required.
The Pine County Board approved a dispatch improvement project to add paging capability across the county's dispatch consoles and authorized a purchase of a Motorola dispatch console estimated at $119,369.
Sheriff's office staff told the board the current configuration left one console holding the paging key that itself could not initiate pages; the upgrade will add a shore‑mounted station and a fourth console configuration so all three active consoles can page local responders. The sheriff said there is roughly $50,000 of state funding that must be spent by the end of the month and that the remaining cost can be covered by existing E911 funds.
"The money that's there has to go back to the dispatch on both sides of the funding stream," the sheriff said, adding that equipment and vendor support use existing, preapproved vendors. Board members asked whether the upgrade included text‑to‑911 capability; staff said the project is focused on paging and does not add full text‑to‑911 functionality.
Commissioners moved and seconded the purchase; the motion passed unanimously. No new county general funds were allotted for the work, and county staff said the project would use existing grant and E911 reserves.
