Julie Leonard, Assistant Public Works Director

Albert J. Carbon III, P.E., Public Works Director

Issue Statement: The City of Oakland Park's Public Works Department is a participant in the City of Fort Lauderdale's local government-owned non-public safety radio dispatch system. This radio system has undergone a conversion to  a new P25 digital system and the previous analog system has been terminated. 

Recommended Action: Adopt a resolution authorizing the proper city official to approve the purchase of 23 P25 digital radios from Motorola Solutions, Inc.,  at the cost of $68,258, approving utilization of the Broward County Sheriff’s Master Purchasing Agreement with Motorola Solutions, and approving the Proposed Budget Amendment.

History: The Solid Waste Division previously used hand held radios to communicate between drivers and their respective supervisory staff. This communication  included real-time information related to challenging road and traffic conditions, truck breakdowns, delays in dumping loads at the waste sites, volume of trash to collect, etc. These challenges can have an impact on completing service on time. Promptly communicating this information to supervisory staff provides for the opportunities to make necessary adjustments to ensure Solid Waste service is not interrupted.

Last summer, the City of Fort Lauderdale upgraded their local government owned radio system from an 800mhz based system (analog) to a P25 Radio Communication System (digital), providing for a more reliable communication network, terminating the analog system. The City of Oakland Park (non-public safety) utilized Fort Lauderdale's analog radio system.  With this upgrade, Oakland Park's existing radios are no longer compatible and need to be replaced. 

Real-time radio communication for the Solid Waste Division is essential in providing quality service to all our customers. It allows drivers to report situations while servicing residences and businesses city wide. It is especially critical to have communication in the aftermath of a storm or other emergency event when debris hauling is paramount.   

The attached quotes from Motorola are to purchase eighteen (18) truck-mounted mobile radios and five (5) portable radios in a total amount of $68,257.

As shown in the attached quotes from Motorola Solutions, Inc., the total cost for the purchase of 23 radios is $68,258.   Available Solid Waste contingency funds will be utilized for this purpose.   The proposed expenditure is as follows:

Purchase of Radios for Solid Waste Division

This agenda item is for the purchase of radios from Motorola only.  Oakland Park will also pay  the City of Fort Lauderdale  a one-time cost associated with the purchase for installation of 18 of the 23 radios in City trucks (~ $4,000), and programming of all 23 radios (~ $2,800).  Furthermore, there will be annual recurring service/airtime costs for all 23 radios (~ $7,700).  Funding for the annual recurring service/airtime expense were included in the FY 2022 budget and will also be included in future budgets.