MANSFIELD — New technology purchases — and the demolition of old buildings — were primary topics for discussion Tuesday for the Mansfield Board of Control.
The single biggest expense approved was $397,623 to upgrade the radio communications system used by the Mansfield Fire Department to the digital Multi-Agency Radio Communication System.
Currently, the MFD uses and outdated and non-compliant, VHF system, according to fire Chief Dan Crow.
“The Mansfield Fire Department is the only public safety entity in Richland County that has not upgraded to this digital (MARCS) platform,” Crow said.
“This prevents our responders from easily communicating via radio with mutual aid partners, local hospitals, and even our own police department,” the chief said.
The contract with VASU Communications of Mansfield will include 95 new radios and other equipment needed to make the transition, which Crow said he hoped to have done by the fourth quarter of 2024.
Mayor Jodie Perry, who presides over the Board of Control meetings, put funds in her 2024 capital budget to pay for the digital system, which the Mansfield Police Department has used for almost a decade.
Other members of the Board of Control are Finance Director Kelly Blankenship and acting Safety Service Director Sharon May. Police Chief Keith Porch will become the new safety service director on Wednesday as he retires from the MPD.
Public Works Director Louis Andres may also participate on the board.
In addition, the board approved deals totaling $367,917 with various contractors to demolish dilapidated buildings in the city and restore them to green areas through seed-and-straw efforts.
Three of the demolition contracts, totaling $219,608, were awarded to C. Eshelman Concrete. A fourth went to Flenner Water Wells & Excavating for $46,799 and a fifth was awarded to Bartley & Bolin Excavating for $60,080.
Hockenberry Excavating received a $51,430 contract to seed-and-straw all of the sites being demolished.
The city pays for the work through proceeds from the Parks, Recreation, Illumination, Demolitions and Emergency Services (PRIDE) tax, a four-year, quarter-percent income that city voters opted to renew again in 2021.
The PRIDE tax, first approved in 2013 and renewed twice, generates about $3.7 million annually. Half of that money goes to the safety forces (about $1.8 million) with 22 percent designated for parks and recreation, 20 percent for building demolition and 8 percent for street lights.
Also on Tuesday, the Board of Control approved spending $102,828 with ES Consulting of Ontario for technology software subscription packages for enhanced email security, firewall protection and network management and mapping.
Earlier this month, City Council approved a three-month agreement with ES Consulting to help prepare a “preliminary technology upgrade plan” when the mayor told lawmakers the city’s IT situation had reached a critical point.
“This is of no fault (to anyone) at any point. In a city of this size, you’ve had different IT directors over the years, different systems that have been plugged into our overall system. We’re just now at kind of a critical point where we really do need some outside expertise kind of guiding us on the way forward,” the mayor said Feb. 6.
Each of the three contracts are month-to-month and can be cancelled when no longer needed. She said the funding for the subscription packages was included in her 2024 budget for contractual services.
“The best way to think of them is each are different tools that we’re adding to our toolbox to help our (IT) team be better able to manage the system we have,” said Perry, who took office in January.
“We felt like it was important to get these in place and then go back and look at the bigger picture,” the mayor said.