The Lyon County/City of Emporia emergency radio system is now paid off on the county’s end.
As part of their regular action meeting Thursday morning, Lyon County Commissioners approved the fifth and final payment to Motorola Solutions totaling more than $832,000 for its portion of the system approved and installed back in 2020. Discussions on the project began in 2019 during a joint meeting between city and county leadership. The project had to overcome several hurdles along the way including various discussions on alternative payment options for area fire districts and the location and use of radio towers.
Following approval of the county’s final payment Thursday, KVOE News spoke with Lyon County Emergency Communications Center Director Roxanne Van Gundy, one of the individuals instrumental in the installation of the system, who says all of the hurdles were worth the result.
The installation of the new system was a much-needed revamp that came out of a needs assessment conducted by the Lyon County 911 board and saw the county switch from a UHF radio system to a digital trunked 8 MHz system. Of the many benefits of the changeover Van Gundy says clear and concise communication amongst local emergency responders was the biggest.
In other business Thursday, commissioners approved a pair of road vacations at Road 45 west of Road J and Road 380 east of Road H. They would deny a third vacation request at Road 45 east of Road H at the request of a property owner in the area to allow them to maintain access to their property.
Additional details from Thursday’s meeting can be found online at KVOE.com. Commissioners will convene their weekly action meeting a day earlier next week on Wednesday at 9 am due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
