The Butler County commissioners on Wednesday approved paying $68,983 to Mission Critical Partners to develop a request for proposals that would go out to potential vendors for a new 911 radio system for the county.

Last summer, Mission Critical Partners recommended a $13 million upgrade to the system.

Steve Bicehouse, county emergency services director, said the request for proposals will contain the specifications the vendors would need to meet whenever the project goes out to bid.

A 2012 federal law requires the Federal Communications Commission to take away the use of the T-band spectrum radio frequency — which the county uses for its emergency services radios — and auction it off to the private sector. This is supposed to happen in 2022.

Additionally, Motorola no longer will support the radio equipment used by the county after 2018.

By getting the RFP developed, Bicehouse said it will allow the county to get a better idea of the exact cost of the system, will allow it to get a better timeline for the project and will help the county look at financing options for the project.

Additionally, the commissioners:

n Accepted an arbitration award for the county’s 36 employees represented by the Probation Officers Association.

The three-year contract, which took effect Jan. 1, includes a 5 percent pay increase for 2016, a 4 percent pay increase for 2017 and a 4 percent pay increase for 2018. It expires Dec. 31, 2018.

Because the contract negotiations went to arbitration, solicitor Mike English said the commissioners had no choice but to accept the award.

Commissioner Leslie Osche said the pay increases are larger in this contract than the ones with other bargaining units. She said this causes concern, but said all the commissioners can do is move forward and work to cut other costs.

All contracts with the county’s bargaining units expired Dec. 31, 2014. The probation officers were the last of the units to make a deal with the county.

n Approved a one-year, $102,729 contract with Motorola for 911 radio maintenance. Bicehouse said this is a 12-percent reduction from last year’s contract. He chalked it up to a “successful negotiation,” and said the county will receive the same service that it has in the past.

n Heard from Itzi Meztli of Slippery Rock, who asked the commissioners to suspend the county’s annual $5 million contribution to Butler County Community College. He said the county is “broke,” noting it had to raise taxes to fill a deficit.

He suggested the college go to the counties where BC3 has branch campuses and ask them for contributions of $1 million.

Commissioner Kim Geyer noted that the county has supported BC3 since 1965 and would not stop.

Even with all of the budget issues going on, Geyer said she felt it would not be in the county’s best interest to halt payments to BC3.

“We have no intention right now of stopping funding for any particular reasoning,” Geyer said.

Commissioner Kevin Boozel agreed, saying such a move would be “reckless.”

Osche said that tuition for students attending in other counties is twice as much as county students pay, so she said the other counties already are paying.