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Board OKs mountaintop communications gear and authorizes sheriff to sign BearCat lease
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Summary
The board approved purchase of mountaintop microwave links and repeaters (quoted $126,646.41) from Sierra Electronics using federal grant funds and later authorized the sheriff to execute a lease for an armored BearCat vehicle; staff said the work will improve dispatch redundancy across the county.
Captain Mike Carney of the sheriff's office briefed the board on the county’s second round of spending under a federal congressional communications grant shared with a neighboring county. Carney said the initial round purchased handheld radios and vehicle repeaters; the current purchase will replace three microwave links and add two repeaters to improve coverage, particularly in the county’s northern and northeastern areas.
Carney explained the planned links (Blacks Mountain to Shafer Mountain, Shafer to the annex, and Blacks Mountain to the sheriff’s office) and said the BLM has agreed to allow equipment to be installed in its vaults at some sites. The purchase quote from Sierra Electronics was presented to the board as $126,646.41; the board approved the purchase by motion and voice vote.
Carney and county staff said the grant totals roughly $1.4 million over four years and that, after the current purchase, the county would expect roughly $200,000 remaining in the grant budget. If funds remain when planned work is done, staff said they would consider additional repeaters or grant modifications to use residual funds.
Later in the meeting the board returned to a previously discussed purchase of a BearCat armored vehicle and approved a motion authorizing the sheriff to sign a lease agreement with Municipal Asset Management, Incorporated, to secure the vehicle. Board members described recent incidents elsewhere as examples of where the vehicle had protected officers and allowed resolution of an armed incident without additional fatalities.
The board approved both the communications purchase and the lease authorization by voice votes.
