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Chippewa County board discusses CAD selection, radio migration, tower repairs and a proposed surcharge increase
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Summary
Board members discussed progress on a new CAD system, 800 MHz radio migration, vendor problems on an OES tower replacement, a completed UPS bid awaiting electrical work, and a proposal to raise the county wireless 911 surcharge from $2.25 to $2.75 to fund equipment upgrades.
Chippewa County Central Dispatch staff updated the board on several technical and funding matters at the April 29, 2025 meeting, including a funding and selection update on a new computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system, progress on 800 MHz radio migration, vendor problems on a tower VHF replacement, and plans for a full-building uninterruptible power supply (UPS).
Staff presented the bi-monthly call-volume report and said the Upper Peninsula 911 Authority project is moving forward with CAD selection and funding work. Board members heard that power outages during a recent ice storm caused significant operational strain and that a temporary fuel declaration was made to obtain fuel for Cloverland distribution; the declaration was later withdrawn after the bridge reopened and commercial fuel arrived.
Officials also described continuing CAD and Empiric software issues blamed in part on power outages, and said the center is managing daily software fixes. The board received an update on 800 MHz migration: one remaining fire department (Rudyard) is scheduled to go live in the current batch and Luce County was scheduled to go live the next day; the east-side deployment depends on deposits and pager ordering.
On tower infrastructure, staff reported dissatisfaction with vendor Elcom after a newly delivered radio did not function and was swapped back into service; Elcom told the board the repair is delayed and that a replacement part had been redirected to another vendor (Smithers). The board was told the Sugar Island tower maintenance fee is about $14,000 per year; two MPSCS agreements, including that tower maintenance, were motioned to be forwarded to the county board.
Facility resiliency work is also pending: the full-building UPS bid is complete but an electrical bid is still required because significant wiring and backup-panel work is necessary. Separately, staff briefly summarized NetMotion intrusion-detection and the Core tunnel for Talon, noting licensing is per person and per mobile data terminal.
As part of a broader funding discussion, staff proposed increasing the county wireless 911 surcharge from $2.25 to $2.75 per line. Staff estimated the current $2.25 surcharge yields about $840,000 annually and said a $2.75 rate would raise roughly $1.1 million a year; the board discussed that operating costs are roughly $1.1 million and that console-control panels are aging with limited vendor support. No formal decision to raise the surcharge was recorded; the board noted potential coordination with Luce and Mackinac counties for future increases.
The board agreed to forward the MPSCS agreements to the Chippewa County Board of Commissioners and moved on to other agenda items.