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Supervisors approve panic‑button system for courthouse and county offices; Ricotta quote selected
Summary
Carroll County approved a Ricotta panic‑button system for courthouse and adjacent county buildings at a contract price of $29,835, with the board noting two higher vendor quotes for the public record; installation and active‑shooter training are planned after equipment is on‑site.
The Carroll County Board of Supervisors approved purchase and installation of a new panic‑button alert system to replace the county’s aging system and expand coverage to the courthouse and Fricki (county) building.
County safety committee members presented three written quotes and recommended the Ricotta system, which the committee said met the county’s functional needs at the lowest price. County staff presented three vendor totals for the public record: Ricotta at $29,835; a second quote (Lynx) at $33,695; and a third higher quote at about $100,325. The board approved the Ricotta proposal by recorded voice vote; the meeting record shows the motion carried 4–1 with the dissenting vote called out as “No.”
County staff explained the recommended system integrates both networked (online) and analog alert capabilities. When a button is pressed, staff said the system can trigger audible sirens inside buildings, send text messages to deputies and department heads with location and time, and display incident information on workstation screens in the emergency operations / dispatch area. The safety committee said the system is scalable for future expansion to other county buildings and offers additional modules (video, access control) if desired later.
The county plans to coordinate installation with other ongoing facility work (door‑security installations) and to schedule active‑shooter training after the panic‑button hardware is in place. County staff said some of the purchase cost may be eligible for a discount or grant from the county’s insurance carrier (IMWCA/WCA); in the meeting the board suggested local option sales tax funds could be used to pay the expense.
Board discussion noted the number of individual pendant/buttons drives price: the recommended package included roughly 60 individual buttons to cover counters and staff workstations across departments, and staff said they verified placement needs with every office.
The motion to approve the Ricotta quote passed by majority vote; the board instructed staff to identify the funding source (local option sales tax and/or capital funds) and to proceed with scheduling installation and follow‑up training.
