Commissioners award LCRA tower bid by split 3-2 vote

Gonzales County commissioners voted 3-2 Monday, Dec. 9, to award the bid for construction of several emergency radio communications towers to the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) after some tense discussion during their regular meeting.

LCRA had submitted the sole bid not once, but twice, on a project that 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.

The latest 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 but would own the towers upon them being finished, though it would use LCRA’s own radio system to operate.

LCRA was the sole bidder the first time the project was bid in April. The Texas General Land Office awarded the county the $6,071,588.57 mitigation grant to help pay for the system. The project was rebid because the county had only received a single bid the first time around.

Commissioners had held off originally on taking action on the LCRA bid after previously hearing a proposal in October by the Texas Department of Transportation about joining the Greater Austin Travis Regional Radio System (GATRRS).

Sheriff Keith Schmidt had suggested the county could achieve savings of $100,000 per year by using the GATRRS system due to avoiding maintenance fees that would have been charged by LCRA. He had been told to get additional information requested by commissioners to bring back to the court.

However, Precinct 2 Commissioner Donnie Brzozowski, Precinct 1 Commissioner K.O. “Dell” Whiddon and Precinct 3 Commissioner Kevin La Fleur said Monday they wanted to go ahead and approve the bid by LCRA to get started on building the towers, which long had been delayed.

During Monday’s meeting, Precinct 4 Commissioner Collie Boatright said not only is the bid by LCRA $74,000 more than what the county had budgeted, but it also comes with “additional recurring cost and maintenance costs for the next five years.

“So we're actually coming up with about $722,240 above the grant if we accept this bid, and that’s county money, not grant money,” Boatright said.

County Judge Pat Davis said a deep dive into the contract shows the county would be responsible the first year with LCRA for paying a fee of $20 per radio for all first responders using the system — including area fire departments, police departments, sheriff’s office and EMS — as well as a $20,880 connect fee.

After the first year, while the radio fee would “go away,” the county would still have to pay that $20,880 connect fee each year and then a $111,960 maintenance fee would come into play for each year after that, Davis said.

“At the end of the day, we’re going to come up in the next five years with about $725,000 out of pocket to cover the cost of related maintenance fees and issues,” Boatright added.

“You don’t know that for sure,” said La Fleur, who suggested that LCRA may be willing to negotiate costs with the county and that Gonzales County could lease space for wireless microwave systems that could offset some costs.

“No, it's in the contract,” Boatright said. “If we sign the contract, we are agreeing to pay this. There's always a possibility we can recover a cost somewhere else, which that's great. But what I'm saying is, if we sign this today, we are signing off on about $722,000 in additional money, in addition to the $4.9 million grant that we’re tied to.

“We have a lot of capital expense projects as far as maintenance on the Randle Rather, the Annex and the courthouse to have to come up with another $725,000. I think, at the end of the day, both systems are definitely adequate for our need, but at the end of the day, this one here (LCRA) is going to cost us a lot more money.”

Davis said Schmidt was unable to be at Monday’s meeting due to a law enforcement conference, but his additional information revealed that GATRRS cannot give Gonzales County “a bid” for the system as they are a state agency.

“All they can tell you is that that there is no charge for the GATRRS system, other than when you put the radios online, which is a very minor charge, but you would actually have to pay that with LCRA if you were to go with them,” Davis said. “Also, TxDOT would maintain the towers at zero charge to the county. As far as LCRA, it's $111,000 a year, along with a $20,880 connect fee.”

Davis said not only has Schmidt, as the lead law enforcement officer in the county, requested that the court “go with the GATRRS system,” but he said Gonzales Fire Chief Wade Zella also indicated that “whatever would save the county money, that would be the best system for them.”

“He is fine with the GATRRS system,” Davis said. “I have a bunch of signed deals from EMS and the (Gonzales) police department and everybody else that is asking the court and requesting the court go with the GATRRS system. But that's what all of your law enforcement, your first responders, fire department want, and y'all want to go against what what they're asking.”

La Fleur responded by saying that he knows what LCRA’s system is going to cost but “you have no clue what the other system going to cost to put in, do you?”

“I ain’t worried about the system,” La Fleur said. “I’m worried about the cost.”

“Well, I’m worried about the system because you're looking at a statewide system instead of an island with LCRA,” Davis replied.

La Fleur told Davis he wanted to know “what’s it going to cost to put the towers up” if LCRA doesn’t do it. Davis said the county could build the towers, as they did the 300-foot guyed tower located in Smiley, which was completed in November 2022 by Victoria Communications Systems for a cost of $554,139.10. The county also added two generators for a total project cost of around $900,000, which was paid for through some of the GLO grant proceeds.

“We have $4.9 million and we need three more towers,” Davis said. “I mean, I don't understand it. I mean, it makes absolutely no sense. And above and beyond everything is your law enforcement and everybody has asked this court to go with the GATRRS system, and you're going to go against the people that utilize this system on a day to day basis.”

“What system are they utilizing now, Judge?” La Fleur asked.

“They’re utilizing the LCRA system and they can utilize that system until they have the other one built,” Davis said.

Concerned resident Jeanette Soefje told commissioners that LCRA announced in November they are expanding their radio system through adding the Coastal Bend Public Safety Radio Coalition, a regional radio system that encompasses Brooks, Goliad, Kleberg, Live Oak, Nueces and San Patricio counties, which would bring LCRA’s radio network coverage up to 57 counties. LCRA uses the system for its own operations and contracts with governmental entities, electric utilities, schools and other public safety entities for its use.

“Basically, you’re giving them the money to build these towers where they won’t have to fund themselves to build them,” Soefje said. “If you choose to go with LCRA, then LCRA gets the money, they build the towers and put their system on it.”

Davis also said the Golden Crescent Regional Planning Commission has given Gonzales County five new Motorola VHF repeaters that would not be able to be used if the LCRA system, which utilizes Harris equipment and 700/800 mHz frequencies, is built.

At that point, Brzozowski and La Fleur had called for the question, noting a motion and second had been made (by Brzozowski and Whiddon) to approve the LCRA bid. Brzozowski, Whiddon and La Fleur voted in favor of awarding the bid to LCRA, while Boatright and Davis voted against it.