Radio System Bids Opened

Mahaska County Supervisors opened bids from Motorola (top binder) and Racom (bottom binder) on Friday. The electronic versions will be sent to the Supervisors radio consultant for evaluation.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Mahaska County Board of Supervisors met in special session to open bids for an emergency radio system on Friday morning.

Two bids were received by the Supervisors, one from Motorola and the second from Racom.

The bids and all the information within them were sequestered to keep the information private while the evaluation process is underway. The amount each company bid was also not released during the meeting.

Electronic copies of the bids are being sent to the county’s consultant for the radio system.

Once that evaluation has completed a committee of three users, The Mahaska County Sheriff’s Office, The Oskaloosa Police Department, and the Oskaloosa Fire Department, and a Mahaska County Supervisor will be able to give their input on the proposals.

Jamey Robinson, Mahaska County Emergency Management Coordinator who is also in charge of the 911 services, asked if 911 would be invited to that discussion. Robinson said that 911 is the biggest user of the system.

Mahaska County Supervisor Mark Groenendyk said he was following the attorney’s advice to follow the consultant’s recommendations, which didn’t include the 911 center or Jamey Robinson.

“They prefer them to be unbiased,” Groenendyk explained.

“We hired a consultant to do this for us, and if this is what he recommends, we got to do what he basically says,” added Mahaska County Supervisor Steve Wanders.

Also approved was a 4-year contract with db Landscaping for installing the Christmas Lights at the cost of $6,300 a year. This will put the county on the same bidding schedule as the Oskaloosa Chamber, which could lead to further savings in the future for the county.