Knox Sheriff: E-911 radios safe

E-911 Center

Knox County Sheriff Jimmy “J.J.” Jones on Thursday addressed what he said are misleading accusations about the safety and reliability of the county's decades-old emergency radio system.

Twice this year, the Knox County E-911 Board has declined to approve an almost $9 million contract that would replace E-911 communication operations.

The bidding process took nine months and officials expect to restart it in January. Then, it could take another year to get something new in place.

Some officials say they are upset and disappointed about the board’s failure to move on the contract.
Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero, an E-911 Board member, said: “Our first responders in the field are relying on increasingly outmoded technology, which puts them and the general public at risk. I hope the board can work quickly to identify our next steps in a way that is transparent and responsive to the needs of our public safety agencies.”

But, the area’s top cop disagrees. He says local emergency personnel and Knox County residents are safe.

“We all know that it needs to be upgraded, and we all know that there needs to be some changes but it isn’t like the public is in jeopardy or any officers are in jeopardy,” said Sheriff Jones. “There are replacement parts – the radio system is not in shambles.”

MORE: Letter from Motorola sent to E-911 Board members

He added: “There’s been so much representation that this radio system is on its last leg, smoking, dying, getting ready to implode, and that’s just in fact not true.”

At issue is the E-911 Board's quest to replace the current emergency broadcasting analog radio system with a 20-channel digital one that would also meet a number of federal recommendations such as allowing multiple responding agencies, such as police, fire and medical, to communicate amongst themselves.

Harris Communications won the bidding process earlier this year, but the board has declined to sign off on a contract.

Jones on Monday was one of five E-911 Board members who voted against supporting Harris. Instead, he and others on the board want to hook onto the state-operated system that uses Motorola Solutions equipment – the same equipment that has served the E-911 Center for more than 25 years.

He called joining the state system – Tennessee Valley Regional Communications System that is based in Chattanooga – “the wave of the future.”

“Criminals don’t know any boundaries,” he said. “If they’re breaking into your house on Alcoa Highway, it could be Blount County, Knox County or inside the city limits, so me being able to communicate with another agency, to me, is ideal and that’s where I want to go when we start talking about this again. I want to be part of a state-wide system where we can talk to any other agency when we need to, to do our jobs on a daily basis."

When asked whether the long wait to put a new system in place would be an issue, the sheriff said he wouldn’t put his personnel on the streets “with a system that didn’t work.”

Jones also turned over a letter from Motorola’s vice president to WBIR 10News that detailed the current system’s performance. The letter was sent to all E-911 Board members and sheds more insight into why some board members don’t appear worried about a breakdown.

“The system performance is measured by a percentage of reliability. Since initial installation in the late 1980s this reliability factor has been measured at 99.99983 percent, which is higher than both the current and proposed contract require,” wrote Motorola’s VP Randy Johnson.

Johnson added that – despite reports to the contrary – the county has a “substantial inventory of spare and replacements costs at no charge (for) Knox County.”

“The system is in no eminent danger of failure,” Johnson told board members in the letter.

On Monday, E-911 Center officials also downplayed several cases in the past couple of months in which radio system circuit boards blew, forcing emergency dispatchers to communicate with emergency personnel via handheld radios.

Again on Thursday, Jackie York, a communications unit supervisor, said it was still “business as usual” for a few hours, except dispatchers used radios rather than hand-free headsets.

“It’s just the matter of doing basically the same thing in a different way,” she said.

She said the overall operation also has enough back up parts, so that the “operations of Knox County continue on without interruption.

“We can still talk to officers and we can still talk to the public,” she added.

E-911 Board members meet again in January to discuss the re-bidding process.

E-911 Board declines radio contract

The Knox County E-911 Board on Monday declined to sign off on an almost $9 million contract to replace the county's antiquated emergency radio system. Again.

The 11-member board voted 5-5. Panel member Brad Anders, who is also a Knox County commissioner, declined to vote, saying he didn't feel the initial bidding process was "clean."

Now, the board is expected to start the whole process over when it meets again in January.

At issue was months of debate that started when a selection committee picked Harris Communications and then the board refused to award the company an almost $9 million contract.

Instead, a number of members suggested the county should stick with Motorola Solutions, which has served the E-911 Center for more than 25 years.

Then members started talking about joining a state-operated system.

The board in mid-September agreed to pay Blue Wing almost $40,000 to determine the best direction to take the system.

The review concluded that the state option is at least $934,467 more costly during the course of the systems’ 11-year life cycles.

Further, the report noted, the county would not charge a radio system user fee of $28 per radio, per month, under the state system.

The lost revenue during the lifecycle adds up to almost $2 million.

Officials with Motorola Solutions - the equipment the state system uses - disputed much of the findings and said Harris actually would cost more money. In a handout provided to board members, Motorola questioned why the county wouldn't charge a user fee, and suggested that the Blue Wing report was tainted because it used "incorrect data and left out additional costs."

In the end, the vote to hire Harris failed.

Board members Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett, E-911 Board Chairwoman Linda Murawski, Knoxville Police Chief David Rausch, Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero, and Knoxville Fire Chief Stan Sharp voted in favor of the proposal.

Board members Ken Knight, Russell Frazier, Bill Cole, Sheriff Jimmy "J.J." Jones and Daron Long voted against Harris.

Jones, an advocate of joining the state system, said it is "the wave of the future," and that "if we do this standalone it seems to me we're an island in the middle of the ocean."

He also said he didn't want "a blue light special."

"These men and women are putting their lives on the line every day," he added.

Shortly after the vote, the board quickly adjourned without talking about the next step. Members, though, said they expect some discussion during the next meeting, which is in January. At that point, the board will probably restart the bidding process, Burchett said.

"We'll follow the process and that end result is what we'll have," he said.

Anders, who declined to vote, said he was concerned that prior to the bidding process,  E-911 Center Executive Director Bob Coker met with Harris officials to talk about sole sourcing the project. He questioned the transparency of such a move. He wants what he called a "clean" process the next time.

Report: Knox E-911 state system to cost $3M more than going in house

An independent consulting firm has suggested that hooking onto the Tennessee Valley Regional Communications System could end up costing Knox County roughly $3 million more than if the county bought its own digital radio system.

Instead, the firm recommended, the city and county should hire Harris Communications, the company that initially won the rights to oversee the system during a bidding process conducted earlier this year.

The firm, Pennsylvania-based Blue Wing, Inc., turned over its 80-page report to the county on Friday.

The Knox County E-911 Board will discuss the findings during its Nov. 9 meeting.

Rest of story RIGHT HERE.

E-911 Board still seeking radio consultant after last one bailed

E-911 Board members

Chalk this one up to either being a greed-head or just the pure enjoyment of wasting everyone's time (heh):

A consultant that was supposed to help the Knox County E-911 Board determine the best direction to take its radio system wanted additional work and roughly $225,000 more than officials were ready to provide.

So, now it's back to the drawing board.

County emergency personnel on Wednesday again agreed to let a consultant determine whether the area would be better off building its own $9 million radio system or joining a state-operated program.

This time, however, officials want to give firms at least a month to submit proposals, and they won't cap the dollar amount to do the work.

In April, board members approved a similar proposal and hoped a firm could make an assessment for no more than $25,000. The bid went out for only 10 days and just two firms – both from Georgia – responded.

The county then negotiated what officials thought was a solid plan with Tusa Consulting Services, in Decatur, Ga. The firm, according to board members, suggested that it wanted to do more work and for more money - as much as $225,000 more.

Tusa then ceased negotiating with the county once officials said the deal was for one contract only, according to Knox County Purchasing Director Hugh Holt.

On Wednesday, the board decided to try again.

For the rest of the story, RIGHT SMACK HERE.

Hammond, Brantley to take consulting gigs with Merle 96.7 FM in April

Hammond

Knox County Criminal Court Clerk Mike Hammond and Knox County Commissioner Ed Brantley – both long-time radio executives – have each signed six-month agreements to do consulting work with Merle 96.7 FM (WMYL).

Both will start April 1.

Hammond, a Country Radio Hall of Fame inductee who stepped away from his job at WCYQ when he ran for office last year, will help the station with programming and music.

Brantley, who spent almost three decades at WIVK before leaving in 2010, will help with programming, sales and community relations.

Brantley

“Merle FM is a high-quality operation from the ground up,” Brantley said in a statement. “Merle sounds great, and it keeps strong relationships within the community among both listeners and advertisers. I am excited to begin working with the staff using the knowledge, experience, and relationships formed over the years and help move Merle FM to the next level.”

Brantley and Hammond each took office last September. The commission post is technically a part-time job. The criminal court clerk seat, however, is a full-time gig.

Hammond told WBIR 10News that his role with the station will not interfere with his elected duties and that he will consult only during the evenings and weekends when he is not at the City County Building.

He said the new role also wouldn’t require him to travel outside of Knox County.

"(The criminal court clerk job) is my focus each day, and I am proud of what our team has accomplished,” Hammond said in a statement. “Working with Merle on the weekends will be another extension of my public service as I work with artists and musicians to give them the chance to have their music heard on the radio.”

Hammond also will host a show on Sunday called “From Nashville to Knoxville.”

Did E-911 board legally select its chairperson or is do-over needed?

OK, so, um, I’m pretty sure the E-911 board didn’t properly pick it chairman – or this this case, chairwoman – correctly.

If I’m wrong – which is like super rare (or never – heh) – I’ll update here.

But, no one seems to know how Linda Murawski became the chair.

Now, is this important? Sort of.

You have a board that oversees the entire E-911 communications system in the county and dictates how the millions . . . and millions . . . and millions are spent.

So, if you can’t properly elect a chair, well . . . .

Here’s the deal:

Right before the beginning of last Wednesday’s meeting – you know, the infamous “non-vote” meeting in which no one seconded the radio systems contract – the interim chairman, Jason Lay, was told by an E-911 finance member that Linda was now the new chair.

Jason, who is actually a proxy for county Mayor Tim Burchett, said he’s attended all of the meetings (they have four a year), and they never voted on this. (Linda, by the way, attended all of one regular meeting in 2014.)

I confirmed that with a number of other board members, including county Commissioner Brad Anders, Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero (through her spokesman), and Bill Cole, who was the chair of the 911 board’s personnel committee.

There also is no mention of it in the meeting minutes.

Oddly enough, the board’s attorney Don Howell says he thinks the board voted on it in October and that he would get me those minutes. I already got them. They didn’t vote.

I also asked Linda about it.

She says that last year Bill Cole sent her an email asking if she would like to be chair. She said she would. A few months ago the board sent its members a director list and she was noted as the chair.

OK, this is NOT how you do things.

The state code says the BOARD “shall have complete and sole authority to appoint a chair.”

Heck, even the attorney said “absolutely” the board would have to publicly vote in a chair.

I’m not even going to get into the fact that if what Linda says is true then it appears that the members probably violated the state Sunshine Laws through the email communications.

So, what happens next?

Well, if Linda was illegally appointed to the chair position, then the board should properly vote her in during its next meeting.

But, in the grand scheme of things – other than making the board like sideshow act – it probably won’t mean a whole lot.

The board’s attorney told me that the action, or non-action, taken Wednesday is still good, even if Linda was not correctly appointed.

“It won’t make anything null and void,” Howell said. “Whatever the board did as a board would not be affected by that. There was a quorum of the board there. It wouldn’t change any of that. Whoever the chair is, basically they’re just presiding over the meeting. They don’t have any more than any other member.”

Well, actually that’s not exactly true.

The chair cannot second a vote.

That’s not in his or her power.

If you know what happened at the meeting, you’d see the irony. Or coincidence.

Heh.

Official hints political motivation behind E-911 radio system vote

Knox County's top purchasing agent on Thursday suggested that the county's E-911 board declined to approve a contract to replace the area's outdated emergency broadcasting system because of political motivations.

His comments come a day after board members said they wanted a do-over after an evaluation team spent more than 18 months overseeing the bidding and negotiation process.

"I've been in this business for more than 25 years and the (Knox County Purchasing Department) director since 1998 and every once in a while there comes along an acquisition that lends itself to politics and political influence, and sometimes your natural inclination as a procurement (official) kicks in and you think: 'I don't think things are going to work out as they should,'" Hugh Holt told WBIR 10News on Thursday. "But, it's part of it and sometimes decisions aren't made about what's the best business decision."

Holt said "99 percent of the time, when you do everything right, you typically get the result you expect."

The purchasing director said he didn't take the board's decision personally, but that his department followed the county's procurement code, which the E-911 board adopted more than 20 years ago.

"There's 11 people on the board and there's 11 opinions, and the majority of them may not have seen what that (evaluation) committee saw and what I saw," he said. "The bid process was managed correctly and the proposals were fully vetted."

Full story RIGHT HERE.

Rude Awakening to interview Rowe

Knox County School Board candidate Jamie Rowe will be on the Rude Awakening Show tomorrow, starting at 8 a.m.

That’s 94.3 FM by the way.

Folks, this is the best, most objective local talk show around. These guys tell it like it is and don’t try to lure in guests by giving them the questions up front.

Further, there’s a reason people some people are afraid to come on their show: They know Mike and
Shyne aren’t going to mollycoddle them.

Anyhoo, tomorrow’s guest is Jamie Rowe. Check it out.

I should note that Tracie Sanger was given an opportunity to appear and she hasn’t returned their call. (I’m not sure about the third opponent Charlotte Dorsey.)

The winner of the Nov. 4 non-partisan election will replace Indya Kincannon who took off overseas to be with her family. The person will serve out the remaining two years of the term. (Technically, the person will replace John Fugate who is the interim but whatever.)

It should be noted that Indya is a big Sanger supporter. Not sure if that’s the kiss of death or what. Naw, wait, that would be a KNS endorsement. Ha, ha, ha. Heh. Kidding. Sort of. Not really. No, I am.

As always, send me your campaign stuff for publication consideration.

Hanging with the 94.3 "Rude" ones

A week or so ago, I had the pleasure of hanging with Mike Howard and David "Shyne" Thompson, the hosts of "The Rude Awakening" morning talk show on 94.3 FM radio.

We mostly discussed county, school and some state related issues.

This is actually the first time my computer illiterate dumb a$$ has attempted to embed an mp3, so fingers crossed that it works. If so, you can find the interview below.