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Fire chiefs ask county for help buying $50 handheld radios; commissioners discuss pilot fund and long-term radio strategy
Summary
Fire chiefs asked Neosho County to help buy inexpensive digital handheld radios to put all rural departments on a common channel; commissioners and public commenters discussed using pilot fund money from wind-farm agreements and the longer-term 800 MHz transition and repeater needs.
Fire chiefs and volunteer fire department leaders asked Neosho County commissioners on March 11 to consider helping buy handheld radios for rural departments to improve countywide fire communications, and the commission discussed funding and longer-term system needs but took no formal vote.
St. Paul Fire Chief Wyatt Westhoff told the commission the departments had located working handheld DMR radios priced at about $50 each. “We did come up with a price of $50 a radio,” Westhoff said, and he said several departments already have units: St. Paul (10), Erie (12) and others were in the process of programming them.
Chiefs said the handhelds would improve on-scene and mutual-aid communications on a common county fire channel, especially during large grass or structure fires. They also described the need for mobile radios in apparatus and additional repeaters in the county’s north and other areas to expand coverage; mobile units are considerably more expensive and used mobiles can run $400–$600 while new mobile radios often cost more than $1,200.
Commissioners and staff discussed funding options, including a county pilot fund that receives annual payments tied to the local wind-farm operations. One commissioner noted the county has received some payments in prior years but that payments from the company had stalled; commissioners asked staff to look for invoices or receipts and to confirm the funds available and whether any prior payments included restrictions on use.
In public comment, Erie resident Shirley Estrada urged the commission to reimburse departments that have already purchased radios and to use wind-farm pilot funds that were intended for public safety and emergency services. “There is money for radios,” Estrada said, and she called on commissioners to either reimburse fire departments that already paid or provide funds to departments that have not yet purchased.
Staff and volunteer chiefs stressed the $50 handhelds would be an immediate, lower‑cost improvement while the county evaluates whether to move departments to the 800 MHz system and how many repeaters and mobile radios would be needed. Commissioners asked staff to get quotes for repeaters and mobile installs, to collect invoices from departments that already bought radios, and to return with a recommended funding plan rather than making an immediate appropriation.
No formal motion to fund the handhelds was made at the meeting; commissioners asked staff to report back with cost estimates, available pilot-fund balances and proposals for how a purchase or reimbursement program would be managed and tracked.
