Dayton, Tenn., council OKs radio equipment purchase

photo Dayton City firefighter Matthew Varner holds an 800 MHZ radio, similar to what the city council approved for the Dayton Police Department to purchase, at Monday night's monthly meeting. Dayton Police Investigator Steven Rievley holds a 2005 model that the department currently uses, which doesn't communicate with the newer portables used by the fire department. Photo by Kimberly McMillian

DAYTON, Tenn. -- Costly repairs to current police radios prompted the Dayton City Council to weigh its options on purchasing new or refurbished equipment.

"I think it's wiser to buy all new [equipment]," Dayton police Chief Chris Sneed said at this week's council meeting.

At last month's meeting, Sneed asked to buy reconditioned 800 MHz radios and to sell the department's older portables. He told the council that the equipment would be compatible with county and state police equipment.

Vice Mayor Steve Randolph said the council might need to seek bids from at least two or three vendors. The panel approved Sneed seeking bids.

Sneed said he had received notification about a $14,000 Homeland Security federal grant that would help with the purchase of nine new radios. The department would need to purchase two new consolettes for the office and dispatcher, he said, but officials could buy refurbished equipment for the remaining units needed.

He said the current radios are "in the shop all the time," and brand-new ones would alleviate the average monthly cost of $200 for repairs.

The state bid for the equipment would be about $30,199 for 11 portables, four mobiles and two consolettes, including the equipment programming and antenna installation, Sneed said.

In other matters, the council approved advertising for substation transformer bids after numerous outages.

A Dayton Electric Department representative said a new transformer in the industrial park in north Dayton would help alleviate power demand through the downtown transformer.

Kimberly McMillian is based in Rhea County. Contact her at kdj424@bellsouth.net.

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