County to spend additional $7,000 on emergency radio equipment

County Manager Ken Westmoreland told board members at their Dec. 6 meeting that Kimball Communications of Hendersonville, the company that won the $105,000 bid to supply the Kenwood radio equipment, "never could fully get optimum operational efficiency out of the radios" even after three visits with local firefighters to address programming issues.

Fire department chiefs then requested they be allowed to conduct an experiment with the radios and took one to Western Carolina Communications of Sylva, where the problem was fixed, he said.

"The fire chiefs came back and said it was more important to them to be able to communicate over the range of their districts," Westmoreland said.

While Kimball is no longer responsible for the programming portion of the warranty, the company will continue to honor its warranty on equipment malfunctions, said Mike Ensley, the county's emergency management coordinator.

"The issue was not with the equipment; the equipment is outstanding. The issue was the programming," Ensley said.

The cost to reprogram the department radios, with the exception of Cullowhee, which had not been billed by Tuesday, was just over $7,000, said county finance officer Darlene Fox.

Adjustments to the radios could cause the departments to be in violation of Federal Communications Commission regulations, the county manager said, since a continuous power output of more than 4 watts could cause brain tumors, similar to complaints about cell phones.

"(The modifications) violate FCC regulations and the warranty, and we are paying for it?" board Chairman Jay Denton asked.

"Yes," Westmoreland replied. "And the fire departments have agreed to take responsibility for that."

Kimball owner Dan Kimball confirmed that Western Carolina Communications' modifications voided the programming warranty his company supplied, but he denied that the radios supplied were anything other than that which was requested in the bid specifications.

"It's unfair to bring it up at a meeting without our company being there," said Kimball, who went on to say that officials with the county were unable to supply the correct information needed to program and tune the radios.

"The other company tweaked the radios and took them out of specs," he said. "We did everything according to specs and saved the county $5,000."

Kimball also pointed out that Western Carolina Communications added a password to the radios, which they will not reveal, a claim Westmoreland confirmed.

Passwords were installed in the radios for a reason, said Western Carolina Communications co-owner Donald Clawson. Since his company is now responsible for programming, passwords prevent anyone from tampering with the radios, which could cause them to be in violation of FCC regulations, he said.

Clawson, who also voiced concern that his company had been discussed at a public meeting without his knowledge, said the adjustments made to the radios in no way violate FCC regulations. The radios, he said, did not work when they arrived because they were not tuned properly.

"We tuned them to factory standards and FCC regulations," Clawson said. "By law they are perfectly legal."

In other business to come before the board, commissioners revisited a request from employees in the tax assessor's office that their job titles be modified, a change that would result in salary increases. As discussed at previous meetings of the board, several employees in that department had requested changes to the DMG-Maximus salary survey after pay rates were finalized with the approval of this year's budget.

On average, salaries within the tax assessor's office were increased 7.2 percent by the previously approved changes, according to Fox. With the additional money approved last week - $13,114 - that average went to 36 percent, she said.

The salary survey was commissioned last year with the hopes of implementing the final results in this year's budget. A draft of the plan was available to the board by the July 1 budget deadline and used to make countywide salary adjustments.

Problems with the job classifications surfaced after the budget was approved, said Commissioner Stacy Buchanan, and he attempted to address them during the month he served as interim county manager. In his opinion, Buchanan said, the employees should not be penalized because of a tardy final report.

Commissioner Conrad Burrell, who had been against making the changes at a previous board meeting, voted for the amendments after learning the department had funds on hand to pay for the increases. He remained concerned that some employees lost standing as a result of the survey, though not money.

"In all the years I've been in county government, I've never known pay grades to go down," he said.

"The grade went down, but the pay went up," Denton said.

The changes were approved by a vote of 3-2, with Commissioners Buchanan, Burrell and Roberta Crawford voting in favor of the amendments, and Commissioners Denton and Franz Whitmire voting against.

Also last week, commissioners agreed to co-sign a bank loan to the Jackson County Airport Authority in the amount of $87,000. The funds will be used to renovate the airport terminal, said Denton, who relayed information that the authority is looking at new ways to raise funds to pay back the loan. The revenue-generating measures could include additional fuel sales, the possibility of a new hanger, which would generate rental income, and concessions inside the terminal, he said.

"I don't like it, but I don't see any other direction we can go," Commissioner Crawford said before voting with the board to co-sign the loan from BB&T.

Commissioners also approved three separate measures designed to bring funds into the county. Funds are available to the county's transit department from the state's Community Transportation Program and to the Sheriff's Department from the 13th Judicial District Domestic Violence-Sexual Assault Alliance, a part of the Governor's Crime Commission. Board members also agreed to enter into a four-year contract with Justice Benefits of Dallas, Texas, a company that seeks federal revenue sources available to the county.

Also approved was a request to be forwarded to the N.C. Department of Transportation to add two-tenths of a mile of Holiday Ridge and East Raccoon Ridge roads to the state's maintenance system. A request from Waterrock Garden owner Allison Smith to waive her room occupancy tax penalty of $320 was also approved. The following appointments were also approved:

Mickey Luker, Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority; Irene Hooper, Diane Melton and Oak Winters, Jackson County Council on Aging; Greg Scott, William Shelton, Inez Smith, Mike Fox and Mike Ray, Jackson County Planning Board; and Daniel Allison, Jim Rowell and Eldridge Painter, Jackson County Airport Authority. The next meeting of the board will get under way at 5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 20, at the Justice Center.

Back to Archive: 12/13/01.