Radio controversy back on the air after Commissioners vote to end CCI tower lease

Controversy over Lorain County's multimillion-dollar first responder radio system returned Tuesday with the county commissioners voting to cancel an agreement with Cleveland Communications Inc., a vendor known as CCI that leases space on a radio communications tower the county owns. Commissioner Jeff Riddell, a Republican, said Tuesday's vote to terminate a lease agreement between the board and CCI for the tower outside the Lorain County 911 dispatch center at 225 Burns Road, Elyria, was "merely a procedural item." The lease had an automatic renewal for a two-year term starting Oct. 20. Riddell said the board decided to give its contractually obligated 60 days' written notice to CCI that it was terminating the agreement. "We're exercising our right," Riddell said. "The vendor has known for at least a year this was comin'," said Commissioner David Moore, a Republican. Moore and Riddell said CCI reached out to the county 90 minutes before Tuesday's 3:30 p.m. meeting for an extension on the contract. The county is putting up multiple radio communication towers to handle the transition over to the Multi-Agency Radio Communication System, or MARCS. Riddell said the project is "more controversial than we'd like it to be" — with nearly every police and fire chief in the county publicly against the county's decision to go with MARCS. Riddell said the county's 2023 contract with MARCS requires it deliver its towers in a certain condition. There will be no interruption in CCI's ongoing service to any first responder agencies that use it, Riddell said. "We have a contractual obligation with MARCS, that they're they only ones on the tower. That's very clear," Commissioner Marty Gallagher, a Republican, said Tuesday. "That's why the notice went out the way it did." Less than a month after a previous board approved a $7.7 million agreement with CCI in 2022, Moore and Riddell voted in 2023 to rescind the CCI contract. They alleged the bidding process behind it was improper, but have never provided evidence of that allegation. Moore and Riddell then decided in December 2023 to spend nearly $14 million to go with MARCS, overruling then-Commissioner Michelle Hung, a fellow Republican, in a 2-1 vote. County fire and police chiefs protested that decision, saying CCI's system and its L3 Harris radios were superior to MARCS after testing. Other towers in the county have CCI equipment on them, and it wasn't immediately clear if and when their status would change. Riddell said the county would have further conversations with CCI. "It would be inappropriate to predict how they will go, but we will hold those conversations and quite frankly we were surprised they didn't occur until today," he said. "We will sit down with the vendor to make sure there is no interruption." Sheffield Police Chief William Visalden, president of the Lorain County Police Chiefs Law Enforcement Association, told the board he got concerned phone calls Monday night that the county might be planning to tear down a cell tower with CCI equipment on it. He asked that in the future, the Board of Commissioners give his association a heads-up when it made decisions that could affect the health and safety of citizens and first responders. Messages seeking comment on the board's action were left for an attorney for CCI and for Wellington Fire Chief Mike Wetherbee, president of the Lorain County Fire Chiefs Association. System update More than 20 Lorain County police and fire departments, school systems and ambulance services use CCI equipment for communication, and multiple cities and agencies unsuccessfully petitioned the county to stick with the CCI agreement. In a news release Tuesday, the Board said testing on the county's radio communications towers and technology will be completed in several weeks. The county's contract with MARCS requires it to build then turn over to MARCS all its radio communications towers in the county. MARCS will then taken on maintenance and do system upgrades, which the county said would save taxpayer money. No service will be lost or interrupted, and the county news release said MARCS will provide departments a "superior system ... at less cost." "As part of the project's commitment to comprehensive testing, public safety agencies within the county will be invited to participate in the in-building field testing to verify coverage and system performance," the county said in the news release. Commissioners "encourage each agency to test the coverage and clarity of the new simulcast network," the county said in its news release. "Put it to the test to determine its ability to meet your communications needs." Background Former commissioners Hung and Matt Lundy, a Democrat, had voted to go with CCI in December 2022, a decision applauded by police and fire chiefs countywide. Then-Sheriff Phil Stammitti, a Democrat, and the Lorain County Deputies Association union also were in favor of CCI. The following month, after Riddell took Lundy's spot on the board following the November 2022 election, Riddell and Moore voted to rescind the CCI contract. CCI is suing the county for breach of contract in U.S. District Court in Cleveland, with the case still pending. Criminal investigations by the Lorain County Sheriff's Office and investigators from the office of state Auditor Keith Faber, a Republican, found no wrongdoing behind the county awarding the contract to CCI. Lorain County chiefs have criticized MARCS, created using equipment from state vendor Motorola, for being incapable of working indoors and for costing taxpayers millions more than the CCI system, which was vetted and recommended by a consulting firm hired by Lorain County. All county police and fire chiefs except one — North Ridgeville police Chief Michael Freeman was booed and heckled at a 2023 meeting for breaking ranks with his fellow chiefs — and Stammitti spoke in favor of the CCI system. The estimated two-year MARCS installation project was projected to cost the county just over $17 million over 20 years, Moore said in early 2023, with the state providing $10 million worth of maintenance and system upgrades through 2044. MARCS is in use in the vast majority of Ohio counties and by the State Highway Patrol, Ohio Department of Transportation and Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Critics say those agencies primarily work outdoors, but that MARCS lacks clarity and coverage indoors. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.