Sawyer County board approves initial $2.825 million borrowing authorization for radio system upgrades

Sawyer County—s finance committee approved an initial resolution authorizing the county to borrow up to $2,825,000 to buy equipment and make upgrades to its emergency services radio tower system.

The committee voted to approve the initial resolution on a motion by Mark Helwig, seconded by Jeff Haney. The resolution authorizes issuance and sale of general obligation promissory notes, series 2025, not to exceed $2,825,000; the committee—s staff said bids for the note sale will be returned in July with settlement expected in mid-July.

"This is the actual resolution then authorizing the borrowing of $2,825,000 for the purposes of expanding and beefing up, getting new equipment for our emergency services radio tower system to make our staff safer as they're responding to calls," said a finance staff member during the discussion. The staff member also said the committee had previously authorized the project and the funding mechanism and that July would bring the bidding and final approval of the note issuance.

A board member asked whether the tribal governing board had provided any additional confirmation about the WOJP tower; the finance staff said Gencomm was working with the tribal governing board but there was no confirmation yet.

The committee will return in July to accept bids for the note issue and complete the financing steps described in the resolution.

Votes at the meeting were announced as "motion carries"; no roll-call vote tally for this item was recorded in the public transcript.