Lorain County authorities report no issues with ongoing MARCS radio rollout

Lorain County authorities reported no problems with the initial rollout of the Multi-Agency Radio Communications System. MARCS, as it is known, is the new countywide radio communications systems for emergency first responders. Backed by Motorola technology, county commissioners chose it in late 2023 at an estimated cost of $28 million. Monday was the first day that authorities said the system went live, starting with the Lorain County Sheriff's Office. Jeff Young, interim director of the Lorain County Emergency Management Agency, said Monday he had been "listening all day and it's working wonderfully." "I haven't heard of any problems and believe me, if there were problems, they'd be calling me," Young said. Though it's still early and testing is still ongoing, Young said the system performed well during two storms: Thursday night in Amherst and Lorain, and Sunday across northern Lorain County. Sheriff Jack Hall said deputies are being issued their their portable radios as they arrive for duty shifts this week. He said he expected every deputy to have a newly programmed radio on the MARCS system by Thursday. So far MARCS is working "exceptionally well," Hall said, with no "dead zones" where radio transmissions don't go through. Road patrol shift supervisors will have radios in their cruisers tuned to MARCS as well as backup VHF radios, the so-called "legacy" radio system. Young said that analysis of a two-day period of MARCS use found that users "keyed" their radio microphones — pressed the "talk" button — 16,000 times with no busy signals. "Every transmission went through, 100 percent coverage," he said. MARCS, which is backed by Ohio and in use in a majority of Ohio counties, was a controversial choice for Lorain County. County commissioners Michelle Hung and Matt Lundy signed an $8 million contract with Cleveland Communications Inc., or CCI, for its L3Harris radios in December 2022. County police and fire chiefs praised the decision and the contract, which was to be paid with COVID-19 recovery funds. Commissioners David Moore and Jeff Riddell rescinded the contract a month later, in January 2023, claiming that it had been illegally steered by Hung. She denied the allegation and two criminal investigations failed to find any wrongdoing. The decision angered Lorain County's first responders and their supporters. Commissioners awarded a new contract to MARCS instead in late 2023. CCI is suing Lorain County in federal court for breach of contract. That lawsuit is ongoing. Hall also is suing commissioners for greater control over Lorain County 911. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.