State Information Technology officials told the Senate Appropriations Human Resources subcommittee that the statewide interoperable radio network (SIREN) is entering an operational phase that will require new staffing and recurring funding.

"This next biennium is really where we're starting to wrap up that project phase and getting everything operational," Craig Valkley, chief technology officer at NDIT, told the subcommittee. He said several cities (Williston, Minot, Grand Forks and Bismarck) are already live on the system and that tower buildouts are underway across the state.

Officials said the project will expand from roughly 45 towers to about 140 tower sites and from about 4,000 managed radios to between 10,000 and 15,000 radios as agencies migrate onto the system. That scale-up, NDIT staff said, creates new recurring costs for connectivity, tower leases and maintenance, HVAC and generator upkeep, vendor maintenance contracts (including vendor system support), and labor.

How it will be paid: NDIT testified that the SIREN operational tail is funded in part by a 50-cent communications-services fee established in state law (North Dakota Century Code sections cited during testimony). "All of SIREN lives in the SIREN operations fund," Valkley said. The agency reported the operations fund balance at roughly $21.9 million and estimated an ongoing annual operating need in the range of $10 million to $12 million on average; officials warned some years could require larger one-time replacements (they cited a potential 2033-34 replacement cycle requiring tens of millions).

Positions requested: The agency asked the panel for authority to fill six positions to support operations; five positions would be NDIT operational staff and one position is requested to be placed within the Department of Transportation to handle contract management for tower leases and facility services. "We would need the six and figure out a way to make the one go into DOT's budget," Valkley said.

Committee concerns and follow-up: Senators asked whether DOT could simply be paid to cover certain utility or maintenance costs rather than routing payments through NDIT. Valkley said the group is trying to minimize capital purchases and rely on vendor-managed services, which increases contract overhead. Committee members asked for more detail on how much of the 9-1-1 fee revenue feeds the NDIT operational drawdowns and what the expected shortfall might be under the proposed staffing and operations plan.

Ending: The subcommittee did not act on the request and asked NDIT and DOT staff to coordinate and clarify whether the DOT contract-management position will be funded in DOT's budget, and to provide further details on the operational fund drawdowns and year-to-year variance.