Carter County commissioners reject DMR bid, order RFP rewrite to include state P25 system

Carter County commissioners voted 19-2 on July 26 to reject a bid for a countywide DMR radio system and directed staff to rewrite the request for proposals to include the state's P25 system and a detailed, line-item cost estimate for that option.

The decision followed presentations from Peter Rogers, identified in the meeting as director of TACN, and Scott Tidwell of Motorola, who described the P25 Phase 1/Phase 2 system as offering statewide coverage, six channels at each site and a 10-year maintenance and lifecycle-management program. Commissioners and first responders asked detailed questions about coverage, tower siting and costs; Rogers and Tidwell said the system would provide coverage that would reach most of the county and noted that a previously assessed $200-per-radio, per-year fee had been lifted.

Captain Tom Smith presented a competing DMR proposal and told the commission that the DMR approach would allow many existing radios to remain in service, reducing replacement costs for local agencies. Smith said one bid had been received in response to the existing RFP and warned that converting to the TACN/P25 system would require replacing portable radios in the sheriff's office "alone [at a cost of] $2+ million," not including mobile units and mountain-top repeaters. Chief Shaw of the Elizabethton Police Department told commissioners the county needs a system every agency can use and said the DMR option could be affordable for city and county police, volunteer fire departments and the rescue squad.

Commissioner Austin Jaynes moved first to obtain a broken-down quote for the state P25 system and then, after discussion and a change in seconds, moved to reject the DMR bid and direct staff to rewrite the RFP to include the state's system with a detailed, line-item cost breakdown. The motion was seconded by Robert Acuff and passed on a roll-call vote: 19 yes, 2 no (Isaiah Grindstaff and Thomas Proffitt); three commissioners were absent (Mike Hill, Randall Jenkins and Gary Bailey).

Meeting minutes record that commissioners and responders raised three recurring questions during the presentations: comparative cost to local agencies, coverage and tower siting/authority for new towers. The rewritten RFP will require vendors to provide explicit line-item pricing so commissioners can compare total system costs and the costs to replace radios and repeaters across affected agencies.

The commission adjourned after the vote. The new RFP and any follow-up quotes for the P25 system were not scheduled for a specified date at the meeting.