Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Communication contract in chaos

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2004 15:07:48 -0500

Communication contract in chaos

Burlington Hawk Eye, IA

2/19/04

By KILEY MILLER
[email-masked]

MOUNT PLEASANT — There is a communication breakdown in Henry County.
A meeting of the county's E–911 Board Tuesday disintegrated into anger
and name calling as Sheriff Ken Krabill went public with his dislike of
radio dealer Electronic Engineering.

The Ames company, which has an office in Mount Pleasant, won a contract
in November to install a radio system and dispatch center at the
sheriff's office.

The system is up and running, except for two pieces of equipment
specified in the county's original bid request. Those items — including
a powerful repeater enabling emergency personnel to communicate with the
sheriff's office — are at the center of the dispute.

Electronic Applications, a West Burlington business and competitor of
Electronic Engineering, supplied and maintained the old radio system at
the sheriff's office. Krabill asked officials from that company to
design the replacement system last fall. Both businesses sell Motorola
equipment.

Electronic Applications' proposal included $188,000 of equipment
selected to work seamlessly with digital radios Krabill is installing in
patrol cars.

Because of the high cost of the radio system project, the Board of
Supervisors decided to solicit bids fusing the Electronic Applications
specifications. Electronic Applications representatives were allowed to
revise their original bid, but Electronic Engineering still emerged the
winner with a $118,000 offer.

With the contract already in place, Electronic Engineering Vice
President Bill Cronin came back to the supervisors and Krabill last
month to find out where the repeater should be placed.

Krabill refused to disclose the location, but Cronin eventually learned
it was meant for an antenna tower adjacent to the Henry County jail and
sheriff's office.

As an alternative, Cronin suggested the county rent space on his
company's tower south of Trenton for more than $200 per month and place
a different model repeater there. Cronin said the location would improve
communications for all public safety agencies in the county, not just
the sheriff's office. He also suggested not using the jail tower because
it was near its rated capacity.

The dispute boiled over last month in a Board of Supervisors meeting and
in the newspapers, with Cronin writing a letter to the editor explaining
his company's position.

Tempers were still hot Tuesday. Krabill came to the E–911 meeting at the
Henry County Courthouse bearing his own letter to the editor and
accompanied by two Electronic Applications representatives.
The letter, which also went to several board members, accused Cronin of
trying to pad his balance sheets with the tower rental fees.

"I feel, as does the company that we have worked with for over 20 years,
that our tower is fine to use ...." Krabill wrote. "It is my feeling
that profit motive is (Cronin's) reason for stating we have to do it his
way. My personal opinion is that Bill's lowball bid has gotten him in
trouble."

Cronin in turn accused Krabill and Electronic Applications of
undermining the contract and defaming his company.
"If you want to have a caning, sheriff, I'll stand right out there and
you can get your cane, because I think you can go over to your office
and see we've done a pretty good job (with the new system)," Cronin
said.
At one point, Krabill leaned over to a jail employee and said in a stage
whisper, "He's an idiot."
E–911 Board Chairman Stephen Engberg later reprimanded the sheriff for
his conduct.
"Kenny, you brought personalities into it from day one, and frankly, I'm
a little tired of it," Engberg said.
The E–911 Board members still don't have an answer to the most important
questions: Which repeater, location and radio protocol are best for the
county?

While the sheriff's office is moving to digital radios, many rural
police and fire departments use analog models.
The Electronic Applications representatives defended their company's
initial proposal, using repeaters in emergency vehicles to boost radio
transmissions back to the sheriff's office. Cronin, who is not an
engineer but has been a salesman in the communications industry for 28
years, said his counter–proposal would help "the entire 911 group."
"I don't care whose system we go with, what type of system we go with, I
want to be able to stand with my portable and call back to the county,"
Winfield Police Chief Richard Hand said.

Chris Knouse of the New London Police Department said he purchased a
high–priced analog radio last year because he was not told of the
county's pending shift to digital technology.

In the end, the board formed a committee to weigh the merits of the two
proposals. The committee's recommendation will be limited to the
repeater and antenna question.
"Electronic Engineering has the contract," Engberg said.

That might not be the case for long, however. Cronin said Wednesday he
would be willing to cancel the final $19,000 on the contract for the
repeater.

He plans to send another company employee, possibly a technical
engineer, to future Henry County meetings.
"We have better things to do than go rassle three or four people at a
public meeting and be dehumanized, demoralized and possibly even
slandered," Cronin said.

http://www.thehawkeye.com/daily/stories/ln5_0219.html

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From: Paul J Zawada <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2004 11:50:47 -0600

Yet another case where a governmental agency starts buying a radio 
system without engaging a design professional to properly chart the 
process.  Radio dealers can offer great soup-to-nuts service, but when 
the fecal matter hits the fan because someone's buddy didn't get a 
contract, the county needs their own independent expert to sort things 
out.   The same holds true when letting multi-million dollar contracts 
directly to the radio manufacturers.  This contract was relatively 
small as public safety LMR systems go, but it looks like it's 
mushrooming into a major headache.  If these folks would have retained 
an expert (who has no interest in selling radios) for a few hours-worth 
of time, they may have been able to diffuse the situation to a great 
degree...

--zawada

 
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---

From: "Bill Smith" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2004 17:09:16 -0500

To quote a couple of real whiz-bang techs I know... "Radio is easy"
Anybody can do it. And sometimes they can. It is painful having to bail them
out all the time while they continue to insist it's easy.

-----Original Message-----
From: Paul J Zawada [mailto:[email-masked]] 
Sent: Friday, February 20, 2004 12:51
To: [email-masked]
Subject: Re: [NEXTEL-1] Communication contract in chaos

 
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