IVANHOE?- The Lincoln County Board acted on a recommendation by Emergency Manager Jeanna Sommers and Sheriff Jack Vizecky to upgrade the existing Gold Elite radio system at its regular meeting Tuesday, rather than buy the newest state-of-the-art equipment.
At issue was the cost and compatibility with the ARMER emergency system. ARMER, which stands for Allied Radio Matrix for Emergency Response, is a radio system developed in Minnesota and currently being extended statewide, which allows many state agencies to use the same radio frequencies, allowing inter-agency communication without overloading the communications channels.
Lyon County is partially integrated into the ARMER system; Lincoln County expects to be integrated by 2013 when the federal government has mandated all government agencies must use narrow band radio transmission.
"The metro agencies already have ARMER, putting Minnesota on the cutting edge of emergency communications,"?Vizecky said.
Sommers presented pros and cons for two alternative systems, the Motorola Gold Elite, used by Lincoln County since 2006, but which will no longer be supported by the company after 2018, and the newest MCC7500.
Sommers said the cost of an upgrade for the Gold Elite system is about $74,000. A new MCC7500 would cost $252,000.
"It's more frugal at this point to go with the console we have until 2018, when competition will probably make equipment more reasonably priced," Vizecky said.
Vizecky also said if the three towers needed to cover Lincoln County for the ARMER system are not built by 2018, the Gold Elite system would still be functional, but the MCC7500 would not.
The board also approved a request by Pauline VanOverbeke on behalf of the Southwest Minnesota Association of Conservation District Employees, to sponsor a Resource Conservation and Development grant application for $3,950 to help support an Environmental Fair Sept. 20-21 at the Lyon County Fairgrounds in Marshall.
According to VanOverbeke the Environmental Fair will provide an opportunity for fifth- and sixth-graders from an 11-county area that includes Lincoln, Lyon, and Yellow Medicine counties, to study natural resources in a setting that allows them to see, touch, and sometimes taste what they are learning about.
The board also heard a report from Lincoln County Environmental Administrator Robert Olsen on the results of an experimental chemical treatment of Lake Benton for the invasive species curly-leaf pondweed, which has been choking the lake in recent years.
Olsen said they were able to control the plant at low rates of chemical application for an affordable cost. Plant growth in the treated areas was significantly diminished and significant quantities of native plant species, formerly crowded out by the invader, were found in the lake.