Butler County Prison looking to buy equipment for new radios
The county prison board is hoping the use of in-house labor will reduce the cost of a signal amplifier that has to be installed before guards can begin using recently purchased portable radios.
Butler County Prison warden Beau Sneddon told the board Tuesday, Aug. 19, the cost of the bidirectional amplifier was much higher than he had hoped for, but the cost could be reduced if maintenance staff can install the wiring for the 17 new antennas needed to transmit radio signals throughout the prison.
“This BDA quote is way more than I thought. We didn’t expect to need 17 antennas,” Sneddon said.
However, the $165,500 price quote from Capital Communications can be reduced 5% because it was obtained through state contract pricing, and the $49,000 cost of installing wiring for the antennas can be eliminated if maintenance staff can install the wiring, Sneddon said.
A recent radio coverage test revealed the need for the antennas because the prison’s walls are reinforced with cement and metal reinforcement bars that hamper signal transmission, he said.
He said he was hoping the amplifier would cost $50,000.
Controller Ben Holland suggested asking Capital Communications for two prices — one with the wiring installation and one with the prison doing the installation.
County Commissioner Kim Geyer recommended asking the company if the warranty on the amplifier and antennas would be impacted if the wiring is done in house.
Sneddon said he would try to get the information and new price quotes and present them at the next board meeting Sept. 16.
The amplifier and antennas come in addition to the $354,432 cost of 74 new portable Motorola radios the commissioners purchased in June to bring the prison one step closer to having a modern digital radio system.
The prison had purchased digital radios to replace older analog radios, but had to go back to using the analog radios because the digital radios didn’t work despite a nearly yearlong effort by the contractor to get them to function properly, Sneddon said.
But the analog radios don’t allow communication with the county 911 emergency dispatch system, he said. The county upgraded the 911 system two years ago.
Sheriff Mike Slupe said the radios used by his office and police in the county can be programmed to pick up the prison radio frequency, but the new digital radios will improve safety at the prison.
Another safety improvement at the prison is being planned for next year.
Sneddon said a memory upgrade for the camera system has been completed, but the old, antiquated cameras have to be replaced. He said he is getting prices for new cameras that he will add to next year’s budget.
A number of cameras in stairwells and other places were not working, but the maintenance supervisor found replacements that cost $100 each, and 10 were purchased, he said.
Prison officials also expressed differing views on the next inmate health care contract. The current five-year, $2 million per year contract with PrimeCare Medical expires Sept. 30, 2026. The county has the option for two one-year extensions.
Sneddon said larger county prisons in the eastern part of the state saw big price increases after issuing requests for proposals for new providers.
He suggested executing a one-year extension with PrimeCare, saying the company has a good record with state inspections. It also pulls nurses from nearby county prisons where it also has contracts to fill in when necessary, which avoids the cost of using nurses from staffing agencies. Because the prison houses federal inmates, it has a larger medical staff than some other county prisons, he said.
Slupe said he believes the prison should look for another contractor. He said a better deal might be found.
Holland estimated the prison will end up paying about $25,000 for each county inmate if $4 million is spent on inmate health care this year. The budget allocates slightly over $3 million for inmate health care, and $2.4 million has been spent as of July 31. He suggested separating pharmacy costs from other medical costs because the medical costs are driving overages that occur when medical costs exceed the contractual coverage limit.
