MONROE - The Monroe Common Council authorized spending $775,000 Tuesday for upgrades to the city's safety and emergency communications.
The project - switching radios to meet new federal and state narrow band requirements - was stalled June 21, when the Finance and Taxation Committee was undecided on which city account should be used to fund the project. Members also were waiting for the 2010 audit to be completed to determine whether the city had enough money in undesignated funds to support the project.
At the finance committee meeting Tuesday, Suzy Shaw, city accountant, said preliminary audit reports showed the city has about $1.9 million left of its $6.1 million of undesignated funds, after deducting about $750,000 for other funded projects this year and $3.4 million for reserve funds.
Cathy Maurer, city treasurer, also informed the committee that a certificate of deposit worth $540,000 in a city-wide capital account was coming due and could be used.
Because the capital accounts funds must be used for capital projects but were not earmarked for specific items, the committee agreed to use the CD, and $235,000 from the undesignated funds.
Committee members learned that bonding for the project would cost about $30,000 plus interest. Maurer said bonding would not be prudent because of the costs.
City Administrator Phil Rath said the city could replace the capital account funds later, using undesignated funds.
Maurer and Rath noted that the street department was planning to purchase a new garbage truck, which has been in the department's 5-year plan for five years and the Fire Department was planning to purchase a ladder truck in 2013 and to replace an engine truck in 2014 or 2015.
The radio equipment upgrade is a necessary, however, because without the upgrades, the police department cannot use state-regulated frequencies.
Those frequencies comprise half the department's radio frequencies bank, according to Chief Fred Kelley.
Fire Chief Daryl Rausch said his firefighters would not be able to talk to each other and mutual aid supporting agencies.
The upgrade project will take about four months to complete, with another two months to replace an emergency generator in city hall.
Work is also needed to replace antennas on a tower before winter weather begins. The needed radios take about 60 days to receive after ordering. There are no fines for not complying by the state deadline, "but the practical problem is that we wouldn't be able to communicate with other agencies," Kelley said.
Green County Sheriff Jeff Skatrud said his department will be narrowband ready by November.
The Federal Communications Commission has ordered all local and state public safety radio systems be converted to narrowband channels by Dec. 31, 2012. After that, public safety radios not using narrowband channels can no longer be operated. Failure to comply could result in the loss of the FCC license and fines of up to $10,000 per day.
Wisconsin moved the deadline up to November, 2011 for its statewide mutual aid channels in preparation of the federal deadline.
The project - switching radios to meet new federal and state narrow band requirements - was stalled June 21, when the Finance and Taxation Committee was undecided on which city account should be used to fund the project. Members also were waiting for the 2010 audit to be completed to determine whether the city had enough money in undesignated funds to support the project.
At the finance committee meeting Tuesday, Suzy Shaw, city accountant, said preliminary audit reports showed the city has about $1.9 million left of its $6.1 million of undesignated funds, after deducting about $750,000 for other funded projects this year and $3.4 million for reserve funds.
Cathy Maurer, city treasurer, also informed the committee that a certificate of deposit worth $540,000 in a city-wide capital account was coming due and could be used.
Because the capital accounts funds must be used for capital projects but were not earmarked for specific items, the committee agreed to use the CD, and $235,000 from the undesignated funds.
Committee members learned that bonding for the project would cost about $30,000 plus interest. Maurer said bonding would not be prudent because of the costs.
City Administrator Phil Rath said the city could replace the capital account funds later, using undesignated funds.
Maurer and Rath noted that the street department was planning to purchase a new garbage truck, which has been in the department's 5-year plan for five years and the Fire Department was planning to purchase a ladder truck in 2013 and to replace an engine truck in 2014 or 2015.
The radio equipment upgrade is a necessary, however, because without the upgrades, the police department cannot use state-regulated frequencies.
Those frequencies comprise half the department's radio frequencies bank, according to Chief Fred Kelley.
Fire Chief Daryl Rausch said his firefighters would not be able to talk to each other and mutual aid supporting agencies.
The upgrade project will take about four months to complete, with another two months to replace an emergency generator in city hall.
Work is also needed to replace antennas on a tower before winter weather begins. The needed radios take about 60 days to receive after ordering. There are no fines for not complying by the state deadline, "but the practical problem is that we wouldn't be able to communicate with other agencies," Kelley said.
Green County Sheriff Jeff Skatrud said his department will be narrowband ready by November.
The Federal Communications Commission has ordered all local and state public safety radio systems be converted to narrowband channels by Dec. 31, 2012. After that, public safety radios not using narrowband channels can no longer be operated. Failure to comply could result in the loss of the FCC license and fines of up to $10,000 per day.
Wisconsin moved the deadline up to November, 2011 for its statewide mutual aid channels in preparation of the federal deadline.