T-R FILE PHOTO The Marshall County Board of Supervisors will borrow money from the Health Fund to pay for a reliable 911 system. The board held a discussion on the matter at the regular Tuesday meeting.

The Marshall County Board of Supervisors is moving forward with replacing the failing emergency communications system. The county will borrow $2.7 million from the Health Fund, which is at approximately $4.3 million.

The discussion at the regular Tuesday meeting began with an update on the system from Marshall County Communications Commission Director Rhonda Braudis. She said the county continues to have significant problems with the radios. She asked the supervisors if they were still looking at signing a contract with RACOM in July.

Previously, supervisors said there was not any money budgeted for the $3.6 million project, and it would have to wait until the beginning of the next fiscal year in July 2021. The project is estimated to take anywhere from 12 months to 18 months from the time the contract is signed to the time of completion.

“I’ll just be honest with you. I think that the longer we wait on this, the more problems we will have,” Braudis said.

Supervisor Bill Patten said he visited with Braudis and mentioned the supervisors have a plan in which the county could borrow money from their own funds and get the project started.

“That’s really all I told her,” he said. “We really haven’t had a motion to do this ourselves and we need to do that so the people know that we’re actually doing something.”

Supervisor Steve Salasek agreed.

“I am getting pressure from people outside of the law enforcement and fire department,” Salasek said. “People have started to become concerned.”

Supervisor Dave Thompson said the board instructed Auditor Nan Benson to research how county funds could be used. He asked for permission to name the fund the money would be borrowed from and why the county will wait another couple of months.

“A while back, we tried to figure out how to finance this without going to an outside agency and the only part that we are going to finance is going to be what the county is going to do. Being the tower only,” Thompson said.

The responsibilities of radios, pagers and maintenance of those will be up to the individual first responders throughout Marshall County. Thompson said the Health Fund only had $1 million 10 years ago and the county has managed it very well. However, the county will have to pay it back.

“I’m going to recommend we borrow from that and repay it over a three or four-year period so that it doesn’t have a tremendous negative effect on the taxpaying public and we can get this project up and running,” Thompson said. “All three supervisors are in agreement that it is something we need to do.”

He added when the failing system was brought to the attention of the Board of Supervisors in December 2019, they were unable to work it into the budget.

“Once you set your budget, you cannot levy more,” Thompson said.

He also suggested Marshall County Attorney Jennifer Miller not review the contract, since she is married to the owner of RACOM Mike Miller and there might be a conflict of interest. Thompson said the Ahlers & Cooney law firm should review.

“I’d like to get this rolling, put the contract in the hands of Ahlers and Cooney and authorize Nan to pursue finding what our costs are going to be,” he said.

Diana Richardson with RACOM said the company has already selected a potential site for the new tower.

State Center Police Chief Jon Thomas told the board there is a concern among the fire departments with small budgets on how to afford the radios. Thompson said the county would be able to provide assistance and said the county needs to know which departments need what equipment — information that was requested but has not yet been received.

“This is most promising progress I’ve seen,” Thomas said.

Thompson said the county could be the borrowing mechanism, but it is up to each department to pay it back.

Salasek said it was the right thing to do. Thompson said the county just needed some time and patience to figure out how to take care of it with fiscal responsibility.

Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.