How 8 Idaho counties might save $2M on radio service for first responders

Eight Idaho counties including Ada and Canyon — as well as the Idaho Military Division — have the potential to save an estimated collective $2 million by changing how they negotiate contracts with the company that provides radio service for first responders.

Telecommunications giant Motorola provides radio service in Idaho for first responders with county governments, police, paramedics, the Idaho State Police and the Idaho Military Division, said Stephen O’Meara, director of technologies for Ada County.

For the first time, counties are looking to partner in the Motorola contract, which could save each county hundreds of thousands of dollars, O’Meara told Ada County commissioners this week when presenting the proposed emergency communications budget.

In years past, counties across the state individually negotiated new contracts with Motorola and paid the company for service.

Although the counties negotiated contracts separately, they agreed years ago to construct a series of radio towers they could all use. The main hub for all the networks — the “master site” — went up in Ada County, a population hub and busy network of first responders. Through the master site, first responders in different counties can talk to each other, which is paramount during a natural disaster or a major crisis.

The piecemeal process of each county negotiating with Motorola separately worked well until a few years ago, O’Meara said. One of the nine partners who use the master site didn’t budget the money to negotiate its contract with Motorola. This meant its radio network would not receive the year’s new software updates. That, in turn, meant its first responders would not be able to access the master site — and thus could not communicate with other, updated networks across the state.

“(That’s) only going to get people killed,” O’Meara said.

O’Meara said he understood how something like that might happen, especially in smaller counties with less money.

In the end, the government entity in question scrambled for the money and was able to negotiate a contract with Motorola in time. But the incident forced O’Meara and other government officials to think about an unsettling possibility.

“Everybody had this huge conversation and said, ‘What do we do?’” O’Meara said. “That was a scary moment for everybody.”

O’Meara and others in Idaho’s county offices decided there had to be a better way. They talked to their government attorneys, who spoke with Motorola’s officials.

In the end, O’Meara said, the counties negotiated with Motorola collectively. Each county agreed to pay a portion of the bill, scaled to how much of the network its first responders used — Ada County, O’Meara said, will likely pay $239,000 this year, the largest portion of the $964,000 contract.

Even so, O’Meara said, because the new negotiation process makes things easier for Motorola, the company provided the service for less money. O’Meara estimated that as a result, Ada County will save $500,000 in the next decade on the negotiations. Canyon County is expected to save about $250,000 over the course of 10 years, according to figures quoted at a recent Canyon County Board of Commissioners meeting.

O’Meara’s presentation to commissioners on Monday was only a request for funds. Until commissioners approve the budget, the Ada County Sheriff’s Office cannot sign the contract. Commissioners will likely finalize the budget in July, and after that, the money would become available Oct. 1. Only then will the counties be able to sign the contract with Motorola.

Legally, the contract has to be renegotiated every year, but because the counties are negotiating collectively, they are projected to save money. It also means no county will be left behind — and that will keep residents safer.

O’Meara said he believes commissioners will approve the money, which will come from the county’s 911 fund.

“Everybody’s interested because everybody’s going to save money,” he said.