By Eamon Baird
TROY — The Miami County Commissioners accepted a quote to replace 14 standard route radios and one master station module for the department of sanitary engineering at their meeting on Thursday, Oct. 3.
J & K Communications Inc., of Columbia City, Indiana will provide the radios at various points throughout the life cycles of each pump station as well as the infrastructure and programming. The radios are at the end of their life cycle for $63,802.32.
The commissioners had a brief discussion with Assistant Sanitary Engineer Josh Lococo regarding the function of the radios and why they need to be replaced.
“What are these radios used for?” Commissioner Ted Mercer asked Lococo.
“These radios are used to monitor the pumps, to make sure they’re running or not running,” Lococo replied. “All of these are for our sewer pump stations.”
“If the pump has a failure the radio triggers our call-out system which in the middle of the night would call out our on-call person to come out and investigate,” Lococo added.
“When was the last time we replaced these and how old are they?” Commissioner Wade Westfall asked.
“Some of them are up to 20 years old, I think the newest one we have was put in around 2014,” Lococo replied.
The commissioners also accepted a quote from Lost Creek Lawn & Fence Co. Inc, of Casstown, as requested by the facilities and maintenance department to maintain the grounds for the Harrison Street and County Road 25A mowing services for the 2024 and 2025 mowing seasons.
According to the agenda, the following specifications were sought from various contractors: weekly lawn mowing and trimming with the removal of grass clippings, and removal of all papers and trash from lawns before cutting, also including fertilizing, and application of weed control, application of herbicide and mulching/pruning trees and landscape bed maintenance with cost per occurrence for $38,640 ($19,320 annually).
“It’s a two-year contract,” Facilities and Maintenance Director Ben Howlett said to the commissioners. “It’s for the rest of 2024 all of 2025 and 2026 up until Oct. 26.”
The commissioners also authorized and signed an employment verification for Richard Corpac as a part-time kennel attendant at the Miami County Animal Shelter beginning on Monday, Oct. 7, at a pay rate of $16 per hour.
Lastly, the commissioners authorized to establish an information technology IT grant fund as requested by the county auditor. Said fund will be used for firewall replacement, multi-factor authentication, cybersecurity, and training.
