The Marshall County Council heard several requests from department heads for consideration for the 2015 budget.
One item is the upgrade of the 911 system at the Marshall County Jail. Matt Pitney, the 911 Supervisor, said the current system is at least ten years old. He added that parts are no longer available for repairs and a service agreement will no longer be an option since the company servicing the equipment has been bought out and that company has decided to “end of life” that system.
Pitney said three different quotes for a new system from Indigital Telecom, Emergency Radio Service and CenturyLink. The quotes ranged from $167,00 to $87,000. Pitney said they’re leaning toward the $87,000 quote – not only because it’s the lowest, but because they believe it would best suit the needs of the county.
Sheriff Tom Chamberlin also requested vehicles for the sheriff’s department.
“I would like to add four new vehicles to our fleet and that would be approximately $108,000 and that’s without trades,” said Chamberlin. We’re still looking at our vehicle fleet to decide between two and four vehicles for trading in.”
One vehicle could be considered to be transferred to the plan director’s office.
He’s also considering consolidating a position.
“It would be eliminating a process server but in lieu of elimination of a process server I would like an additional merit officer. With that addition, I figured approximlatey $15,000 additional per year. Merit officers, as part of their duties, are to service all civil papers.”
No decisions were made and the council members will discuss the consideration at budget time.
