Albany City Commission tentatively OKs $5.8 million Motorola contract

ALBANY — Assistant City Manager Stephen Collier was adamant Tuesday in his support of a recommendation that the Albany City Commission approve $5,758,198 for the purchase of a P25 public safety radio system from Motorola.

Ward IV City Commissioner Roger Marietta asked staff during the commission work session why the project hadn’t been bid out with a possibility of getting a lower cost, and he said the language in Motorola’s proposal concerned him.

“They say they can’t guarantee product support after 2016, and we’ve spent, I’d guess, $10 million with them over the years,” Marietta said. “I don’t know that I can support this without us bidding the project.”

Ward V Commissioner Bob Langstaff pointed out that changing vendors threatened the city’s relationship with communities that co-locate on the Albany system, including public safety programs in Thomasville and Lee, Grady and Decatur counties.

“Commissioner Marietta is right to question this decision, but that question’s been answered for me,” Langstaff said.

Collier reiterated the importance of having other communities on the system, noting that each pays a fee that lessens some of the financial burden on the city. He also clarified Motorola’s concern about product support.

“They did not say they would not support our equipment, they said they would try — but not guarantee — support of the old equipment while they’re working to install the new system,” Collier said. “Look, technology is changing rapidly, and some of the pieces of our system are 20 years old. Their comment was more a concern about the age of our equipment that’s in place now.”

Albany Police Department Chief Michael Persley said the radio system is vital in his department’s battle against crime.

“Information-sharing is crucial when dealing with crime issues,” Persley said.

Some members of the commission balked at signing off on Fire Chief Ron Rowe’s proposed update to the city’s non-preference wrecker policy through which emergency personnel call on a rotation of 11 registered wrecker services to clear unmovable vehicles at accident scenes.

Rowe said the ordinance had not been updated in 34 years, and he and City Attorney Nathan Davis outlined elements of the proposed new ordinance that participating local services would have to get in compliance with within four months of the law’s passage. Those elements include ownership of a fleet of at least four wreckers with the capacity to move the weight of any vehicle that travels on county highways, a storage site located within Dougherty County, and an agreement not to “sub out” work.

When Ward VI Commissioner Tommie Postell said he needed more information on the ordinance and asked Rowe if he could “hold off” on it until commissioners had an opportunity to study the proposal.

“We’ve been operating under the old ordinance for 34 years, so, yes, we can wait a while longer,” Rowe said. “But this is long overdue.”

Postell offered a motion to table the matter, but that motion was voted down 4-3. The commission then voted 4-3 to give tentative approval to the measure. The board will take a binding vote at its night meeting on April 26.

While discussing alcohol license issues during the work meeting, Postell asked Chief Deputy Nathaniel Norman about his office’s enforcement efforts with establishments holding such licenses. Postell’s question came after a license transfer for The House of Jazz was brought up, and Marietta quipped, “Did you do your research on this at the House of Jazz?”

Mayor Dorothy Hubbard read a proclamation recognizing this week as Georgia Cities Week, which is sponsored by the Georgia Municipal Association. Afterward, commissioners shook the hands of students who’d attended the meeting, and Downtown Manager Latoya Cutts gave each a bookbag which bears the city of Albany’s new logo.