ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. — The Lisonbee City Council on Dec. 8 authorized the mayor to sign a contract with Motorola that staff said will upgrade the city's radio system and move Elizabethtown toward acting as its own primary 911 answering point (PSAP).

Chief Thompson told the council that the vendor quote for the full system came in at about $2.2 million, with $850,000 already allocated across the current and next fiscal year. He said 200 radio units are planned (split across two fiscal years), additional dispatch consoles are required as the city's dispatch workload grows, and integration costs account for a large portion of the total price. "This price quote is for the 5 consoles... It's 2,200,000.0, but that's misleading," Chief Thompson said, adding that about $850,000 of that amount was previously budgeted.

Thompson said locking the contract would preserve a financing incentive that staff calculated as $130,631 if the city signed by the vendor's deadline. "That $130,000 in savings, if we go ahead and opt in to this contract, is deferred until July 27," he said. He also told council members the vendor's financing offered to defer payments while holding pricing, and that an industry-standard escalation of roughly 7% annually was likely if the city waited.

City staff explained the consoles and integration work are separate from the radios themselves and that the project also ties into the city's effort to become a primary PSAP. Thompson said the city has notified the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security of its intent to file for PSAP status and is awaiting coordination with AT&T. "Those 911 calls are for the city. Those fees are already allocated for the city limits," Thompson said.

A councilmember moved to authorize the mayor to sign the contract to secure the incentive; the motion was seconded and carried unanimously.

The authorization allows the mayor and administrative staff to finalize the contract on terms described to the council. Council members asked for confirmation that no additional municipal funding beyond the previously allocated $850,000 was required to accept the incentive; staff replied that the quoted pricing and financing structure as presented would not increase the city's current-year allocation.

The next procedural step indicated by staff is to finalize vendor scheduling and coordinate with state and carrier partners as the city moves toward PSAP status.