Johns Creek will not join a coalition of north Fulton cities that plan to build a new, $16 million emergency radio system separate from Fulton County.
The Johns Creek City Council gave a resounding “no” Monday to any notion of joining Sandy Springs, Roswell, Alpharetta and Milton in their plans to build the system.
City Manager John Kachmar said the whole process was flawed when the four cities accepted a recommendation from consultant Commdex to award the equipment contract to Motorola, using state contract pricing, instead of taking competitive bids for the work and equipment.
Governments can bypass the bidding process by using products that are already at a reduced price because of negotiated state contracts. These contracts are often used for government equipment purchases such as office supplies or police cars, but Kachmar said a radio system is too wide-ranging to not put out for bid.
He also said Commdex appears to be a fine company, but it is a licensed reseller of Motorola products.
All five cities agree public safety workers are relying on an outdated emergency radio system operated by Fulton County. Occasional outages leave police and firefighters without communication for minutes and sometimes hours.
Kachmar told council members that the other cities had been exerting pressure to sign the agreement by Friday in order to take advantage of nearly $1 million in discounts offered by Motorola. He described the process as “bullying, bullying with bad facts in front of them.”
The other cities plan to move on without Johns Creek, saying that public safety concerns require the project move forward quickly.
“All four remaining cities have expressed the intent to consider a revised intergovernmental agreement within the next several weeks,” Sandy Springs City Manager John McDonough said Tuesday.
The current agreements, signed by the four cities in late December, must now be rewritten to exclude Johns Creek and absorb its $2.7 million share among the participants.
Johns Creek City Council members were unapologetic.
“In the ideal world, you’d be better to work on something like this as a collective than to stand as islands on your own,” Mayor Mike Bodker said. “We just, unfortunately, have had a problem with the collective because of the way they’ve done it.”
Johns Creek city officials said they plan to approach Fulton County to explore a partnership to help replace the current radio system. Late last month, the county put out requests for consulting firms to draw up plans for a new $26 million system.
The city is considering other options, as well, including hiring its own engineering firm to study the feasibility of building its own system, tying into Gwinnett County or Forsyth County’s emergency radio system.
“This is an extreme expenditure and it also affects public safety,” said attorney Jack Slover, who is representing the city on the matter. “You’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing in vetting this process out.”
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