Commissioners again press pause on communications tower decisions

Gonzales County commissioners voted unanimously on Tuesday, Nov. 12, to hold off for now on decisions about both a solitary bid by LCRA to build emergency radio communications towers and a proposal by the Texas Department of Transportation and the Greater Austin Travis Regional Radio System (GATRRS).

At least two commissioners were questioning the costs that would be involved in contracting with GATRRS and whether it would be more affordable than accepting the LCRA bid, according to information they provided to the Inquirer last week.

It was not known at the time of this story whether the court would be discussing these topics during their upcoming Monday, Nov. 25 regular meeting.

On Nov. 12, the court directed Sheriff Keith Schmidt to get more detailed information from GATRRS and TxDOT about what a contract with those two organizations would mean for Gonzales County after returning from a 47-minute executive session with representatives from Langford Community Management Services and Hanson Professional Services.

Langford is the grant administrator for the $6,071,588.57 General Land Office Mitigation grant the county received that is being used to pay for new radio communications towers, while Hanson is the engineering consultant on the project. The money was awarded after Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

“I think Commissioner (K.O. “Dell”) Whiddon wants a little more information about the contract and what they will cover and what they won’t cover and prices and costs,” County Judge Pat Davis told Schmidt. Whiddon was not present for the Oct. 28 presentation GATRRS made to the court.

LCRA sole bid

The county had rebid the radio towers project in the Inquirer and on CivCast in June for a “P25 Phase 2 standards-based 700/800 MHz trunked radio system to provide greater county-wide communications coverage and message capacity.”

The project would include three new towers to be located in Gonzales, Belmont and Waelder, along with two new shelters, three emergency backup generators, a trunked radio network with geographically-redundant central control systems, interface with or replacement of existing dispatch console equipment, and redundant IP-based microwave backhaul.

Anna Aldridge, Hanson Professional services vice president and senior project manager, told commissioners on Oct. 28 the county received only one bid on the tower project during the Sept. 12 bid opening, despite having 37 parties show interest.

The bid received from LCRA was for $4.998 million, which was $73,777.36 over the county’s construction budget, with a construction time of 399 days from notice to proceed to substantial completion. The county would have to pay the overage out of its own funds.

LCRA was the sole bidder the first time the project was bid in April as Motorola originally submitted a notice of intent to no-bid and protest, which Precinct 2 Commissioner Donnie Brzozowski brought up Monday. GLO required the project to be rebid because there was only one bidder the first time around.

The court tabled action both on Oct. 28 and again on Nov. 12 to award or reject the LCRA bid.

GATRRS

During the Oct. 28 meeting, Schmidt told commissioners he believed a partnership with GATRRS could save the county as much as $100,000 per year in radio subscription fees and other costs.

At that Oct. 28 meeting, TxDOT Statewide Emergency Management Coordinator Matthew Heinze told commissioners with GATRRS, the county would have complete coverage throughout the county using mobile units inside vehicles and “pretty good” coverage in the outside, surrounding areas, just based on existing and proposed towers within Gonzales County.

He said coverage with handhelds would be at about 95 percent of the county, but the areas that are not covered by current or proposed Gonzales County towers could be picked up by a tower that overlaps from a neighboring county, like ones in Karnes County, which has just joined GATRRS, or Lavaca County, which is part of TxWARN.

If Gonzales County seeks GATRRS membership, Heinze said the county would be asked to continue to maintain any consoles or towers they currently own or lease as well as any equipment at those sites, but added TxDOT and GATRRS could assist with equipment upgrades when needed. The county would also be responsible for its own generators at those tower sites. If future towers are needed, the county would work with TxDOT and GATRRS to get those built, so the county wouldn’t have to bear that burden alone.

He also said the each first responder agency in the county would be responsible for purchasing its own radios, portables and consoles, but GATRRS does provide the connectivity.

The county would have to pay a one-time programming and subscriber ID management fee for each handheld or mobile unit they own. As additional units are put on the system or units are replaced, they would also have to be programmed for a one-time fee. GATRRS would also require access to any towers, radio shelters, generators or site facilities and use of the current tower site radio equipment.

Commissioners questions

An informational handout provided to the Inquirer by Gonzales County Precinct 2 Commissioner Donnie Brzozowski and Precinct 3 Commissioner Kevin La Fleur shows they questioned during the executive session whether the TxDOT/GATRRS system would cost $100,000 less per year.

“There will be fees paid for by the county for FCC frequency filings (frequencies needed for the system.) LCRA has and provides those frequencies currently,” the commissioners noted in a handout. “There will be FAA filling fees for the towers.”

Other questions raised by Brzozowski and La Fleur were about interoperability, tower maintenance, dispatch costs, excluded TxDOT fees, total cost of the project, lifespan of the GATRRS system, LCRA services and bonuses offered and levels of service for Gonzales County.

“Who is responsible for the system? Motorola? GATTRS? TXDOT?” the commissioners stated in their handout. “What priority level will Gonzales County be when things go wrong? What will service turn around time be? Who will Gonzales county contact? Where will technicians and spare parts be located?

“What will cost of project be from Motorola? How much will the county have to provide? Motorola system estimated cost $7 million minimum and $10 million maximum, all depending which equipment they offer. Motorola current repeaters will be upgraded in one year. Will they provide the old or new repeaters? New repeaters will cost 50%-80% more and only produce 40 watts of power versus current 50 watts on LCRA system. Who pays for what?”

According to Brzozowski and La Fleur, LCRA offers a free use of an emergency communications trailer, free use of loaner radios for events and disasters and “LCRA, since inception, has donated over $4 million dollars to the entities of Gonzales County.”

“LCRA has presented seven letters of support from neighboring counties who can provide seamless interoperability and mutual aid (Guadalupe County, Caldwell County. City of Seguin, Fayette County, Hays County, San Patricio County, Wilson County),” the handout states. “Any entity that currently interops with bordering counties with LCRA systems will lose their current interoperability status on GATTRS. (Waelder, Ottine, Belmont, Nixon, Sheriffs Office). Entities that provide aid to neighboring counties will not be able to communicate with LCRA dispatch from neighboring counties.”

The commissioners state that LCRA is signed member of the Texas Interoperable Radio Interconnect System (TIRIS), which the Legislature created to build a statewide radio system.

“LCRA is a member of this coalition and provides the capability of a statewide radio system. LCRA system is currently interoperable and integrated into this statewide system. TXDOT is not,” they stated in their handout. “TXDOT does not own nor operate a radio system. TXDOT cannot make funding commitments outside of their biannual Legislative appropriation.”

Brzozowski and La Fleur also said the Motorola “Smart Connect” feature would not work on any Harris radios used by some of the county’s first responders and other radios would not be 100 percent compatible, which could force the county to have to purchase more expensive radios or pay a subscription for LTE coverage through a cell phone provider, like AT&T or Verizon.