Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Russellville committee backs purchase of networked fire-station alerting system to restore reliability and cut response time
Summary
The finance committee recommended the full council approve a $478,556.52 purchase of a fiber-based fire station alerting system, payable over three years. Staff said the upgrade should restore reliability after repeated outages and could reduce response times by roughly 40 seconds per station.
The Russellville City Finance Committee voted April 7 to forward to the full council an appropriation to purchase a networked fire-station alerting system at a contract price reported as $478,556.52 drawn from the sales tax capital fund (Fund 07). Committee members were told the purchase will be paid in three annual installments to avoid stressing the fund and that the vendor agreed to provide service for the three-year period, saving about $30,000 per year in service costs.
City staff described the current alerting system as intermittently failing (including a lightning strike) and said the new system will operate over the city’s fiber network with radio fallback to preserve reliability. "it will actually improve response times by upwards of over 40 seconds for every station," a staff speaker stated during the discussion, attributing reduced dispatch delay to the networked system and redundancy. The committee moved and seconded the appropriation and forwarded it to the full council with a recommendation of approval.
Committee members asked whether the three-year payment plan was a subscription or capital purchase; staff said the full appropriation is recorded now so the city will not need to reappropriate funds each year even though payments will come from future fund balances. The item will be on the full council agenda for formal approval.
