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Thursday, March 30, 2023
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Volume 10, Issue 13
Lorain County radio controversy continues DAVE O’BRIEN THE COMMUNITY GUIDE
The monthslong war of words over public safety radio upgrades in Lorain County continued this week as backers of the L3 Harris digital radio system responded to a plea by the Board of Commissioners to be patient as a new process is worked out. The controversy has drawn cities, villages, first responders, elected officials and emergency workers into the fray after county commissioners Jeff Riddell and David Moore undid a contract that would
have paid Cleveland Communications Inc. to provide the L3 Harris radios firefighters, sheriff’s deputies, their commanders, city mayors and a host of other supporters say they need. Various legal battles in the war also are continuing, with attorneys for the county responding to CCI’s pending 2-month-old lawsuit in Lorain County Common Pleas Court. Commissioner Jeff Riddell on Tuesday urged patience as the county works out a new plan. He and Moore voted in January to rescind the nearly $8 million contract the county signed with CCI in De-
cember by commissioners Michelle Hung and Matt Lundy. Riddell called the CCI contract politically motivated, “a bad contract done badly,” “unethical,” “potentially illegal” and said it “followed a poor process” on Jan. 8. CCI, he said, got the contract “without having to earn it by competing fairly for public money.” Of the $8 million in the contract with CCI, $4 million was to pay for radios and equipment to benefit the sheriff’s office, Lorain County EMA and Lorain County 911 needs. The other nearly $4 million would have provided grants to
municipalities that wanted the radios and would pay subscriber fees. CCI sued and county sheriff’s deputies filed a grievance after the contract was rescinded.
Schneider: Trust the experts
Wellington Mayor Hans Schneider brought the matter up again at his State of the Village address on March 24, more than a month after Wellington Village Council passed a resolution Feb. 20 backing the L3 Harris radio system. Wellington Fire District
Chief Mike Wetherbee is a vocal supporter of the L3 Harris system for his firefighters. The South Lorain County Ambulance District and Wellington Police Department also want the upgrade, Schneider said Thursday. L3 Harris radios “provide improved communication capacity within facilities, they operate without supplemental tower systems, unlike alternative options,” he said. “I don’t claim to be an expert on much of anything,” Schneider said, “but I do know how to listen. I do think it’s the most important characteristic
an elected official has, is to listen and to listen to people I think are experts.” He said he trusts the experts in the emergency services. “If they say this is what we need to keep you safe, gives us a better chance to keep people safe, that’s all I need to hear. I trust them like I trust a member of my family. I think it’s important. It’s unfortunate it’s become politicized, it’s really not a Democrat, Republican, Black, white, male, female (issue), it’s nothing. It’s public safety, it’s the most important that we are tasked with as CONTROVERSY PAGE A2
Commissioners hire new consulting firm for radio study DAVE O’BRIEN THE COMMUNITY GUIDE
The Lorain County Board of Commissioners voted March 25 to hire a new consulting firm to figure out what the county needs when selecting a new public safety radio system. Friday’s move entered the county into a contract with MCM Consulting Group of State College, Pennsylvania, at a cost of not more than $90,000 to do a propagation study assessing infrastructure needs for an updated public safety radio communications system. Radio propagation is how radio waves behave. A propagation study is “a computer-generated study estimating the signal emanating, and prediction of coverage, from antennas or repeaters sited on a specific tower or structure,” according to LawInsider. com, a resource for legal contract language. MCM has worked with Summit County to upgrade its 911 dispatch systems, according to media reports and the company’s website. Following a four-year study, from 2018 to 2022, by the consulting firm Mission Critical Partners, Commissioners Matt Lundy and Michelle Hung voted in December to select Cleveland Communications Inc.’s L3 Harris radio system. The plan cost nearly $8
million in American Rescue Plan Act funds and would have replaced obsolete public safety radios for county sheriff’s deputies and other interested emergency first-response agencies by providing grant funding. CCI’s was the lone complete bid. Commissioners David Moore and Jeff Riddell axed the deal in January, claiming without providing any evidence that the bid process was unfair. They have since said they intend to redo the process fairly. The rescinding of the contract angered sheriff’s deputies, Sheriff Phil Stammitti, local fire chiefs, mayors, elected officials and their supporters who saw the L3 Harris system as their preferred technological upgrade. MCP wrote a letter to the county in February saying it had fulfilled its contract and owed the county no more work on its current issue. Also, a breach-of-contract lawsuit was filed by CCI against the county in Common Pleas Court, and a health and safety grievance filed by the Lorain County Deputies Association is likely to go to arbitration. Reading from Friday’s proposed motion before it passed, Moore said Lorain County “does not contemplate that this study will discuss or advise as to the relative benefits of one radio system or another.” “The study should assess STUDY PAGE A2
BRUCE BISHOP | The Community Guide
Lohl Greene, 16, fires up a 1962 Farmall tractor as he gets ready to head for home after bringing his family tractor to school for the Drive Your Tractor to School Day at Firelands High School on March 25.
Firelands High School causes a different kind of traffic jam BRUCE BISHOP THE COMMUNITY GUIDE
HENRIETTA TWP. — Once a year, Vermilion Road outside Firelands High School becomes the home of a different kind of traffic jam. That day was March 25 for this year’s Future Farmers of America’s “drive your tractor to school’’ day, and nearly two dozen tractors of all sizes and ages were parked outside the school. Garrett Schlechter, 17, and president-elect of the FFA, said the event has been going on for as long as he can remember. Tractor day is about more than just driving the tractor, he said, it’s an FFA program to bring awareness to farming and it ties into class work across all grades.
“I remember coming over and looking at the tractors on tractor day when I was in elementary school. That was always a fun experience for me,” he said. The event has 17-year-olds driving tractors valued at up to $700,000 to school for the day. For a little perspective, the latest Ford GT supercar can be had for $200,000 less and those certainly aren’t found often in a high school parking lot. Josh Kovach, 17, of Henrietta Township, said the John Deere he brought to school isn’t his; it’s owned by his employers, Jake and John Dovin of Dovin Farms in Oberlin. He said he understands the faith it takes for someone to lend him a $700,000 tractor for the day. “It takes a lot of trust and I really appreciate the opportunity,” he said.
Josh isn’t exactly new to handling tractors. He said his family does a little bit of farming and he’s been driving tractors since he was 8 or 9. He’s been working at Dovin Farms for the last couple of years. Henrietta Township isn’t exactly deep farming country, but Josh said he knows the difference his lifestyle offers. “It’s beautiful out here, it really is,” he said. Looking at the future, he said he’d like to continue his life in the agriculture field but the reality of modern farming stacks the deck against most people. “It’s kind of hard to get into these days unless you’re established and have been doing it for a while, but we’ll see how it goes,” he said. Josh TRACTORS PAGE A4
INSIDE THIS WEEK County
Keystone grad to Naval Academy ● A6
Oberlin
Kendal earns sixth accredidation ● A5
Wellington
Village in good standing ● A4
OBITUARIES A2 • CLASSIFIEDS A4 • CROSSWORD A7 • SUDOKU A7 • KID SCOOP A8