MOULTRIE — After purchasing radios from Southern Linc to test-drive them, with the county commission’s approval, it looks like Sheriff Rod Howell will finally get the radio communication system he says he needs.

Howell appealed to the commissioners in March of 2024 to update the radio system the sheriff’s office had been using. He spoke to the danger his deputies faced if they were not able to call for back-up when they needed it.

After reviewing a quote from Motorola for its radio system, with a price tag of approximately $4.4 million, the commission was concerned about finding funds to pay for the update.

Then, in June of 2024, the commission reviewed a new radio system proposal from Southern Linc. County Administrator Chas Cannon told them that he and everybody affected by the radio upgrade had been in discussions not only with Motorola but with Southern Linc, as well.

He then told the commissioners that he and staff came up with a package from Southern Linc, which would include P25 Harris brand radios. At that time, he asked for the commissioner’s approval to order and try them out.

The commission approved both the purchase of the less expensive Southern Linc proposal and the trial of the radios through the end of January 2025.

At last Tuesday’s, April 15, meeting, the county commission heard a final update on the performance of the test radios from Southern Linc.

“We talked about doing this a couple of months ago back in, I think, August or so,” Cannon said. “We agreed to buy the first group of radios. Tested them out. Gone through several variations with them. At this point, I feel comfortable moving forward with purchasing the radios, based on the guarantee of the grant.”

A grant of $1.2 million from Congressman Sanford Bishop’s office, distributed by the Southwest Georgia Regional Commission, would offset some of the costs of a new radio system.

Cannon told the commissioners that the grant was $1.26 million and the quote from Southern Linc was $1.18 million.

“So, we’re actually a little bit ahead in terms of the grant. I wouldn’t mind Justin and the Sheriff kind of giving their input on this,” he said.

Emergency Management Agency Director Justin Cox said they had run the radios through the wringer since last year’s Sunbelt Expo and they performed great.

“Coverage has been great. Any service issues we’ve had has been a phone call or text message and, in a matter of minutes, it’s been back online and most people that have them didn’t even know there were interruptions,” he said.

He also said the he, Howell and Emergency Management Agency Deputy Director Dustin Hart, who is also president of the Volunteer Firefighters Association, had assessed them. They had really good service out of the radios, he said. Also, the customer support had been great and the updates had been seamless, he said.

“This money’s been allocated through the Department of Agriculture through Congressman Sanford Bishop’s Office. We buy it and we get reimbursed. This is a state contract, so you can preview it tonight and vote next month,” Cox said. “If you wanted to vote tonight, I would not argue with you.”

He said it would be six to eight weeks, from the time they placed the purchase order until Southern Linc delivered. With the number they were getting, he said, it would take two to three weeks to get them inventoried, programmed and assigned. Plus, the training for all the deputies, medics and firemen that would be carrying them would take some time.

“Again, it’s not a perfect system but it’s also not $5.6 million. And it gets a third of our public safety folks covered. This pretty well finishes everybody out and if we decide, later on, we want to go to a 700-800 trunking system, all this stuff’s compatible,” Cox said.

Howell said the Southern Linc system has probably brought them up to 95% efficiency where their old radios, he didn’t know if they even got 30% efficiency. He said he had talked and listened to the radios in Savannah, Waycross and going across Hwy. 122.

Cox said the only place where it didn’t work was the parking lot of Brasstown Bald but no other carrier worked there either.

“But when you get to the summit, it works,” he added.

(Brasstown Bald is about 300 miles from Moultrie.)

Howell said that he, Cox and Hart had tested the radios all over the county.

“I walked under Vickers Bridge and it was crystal clear,” said Cox.

Commissioner Mike Boyd wanted to know how many total they would have after ordering the 120 radios on the invoice. Cox said they had ordered 19 previously.

That will cover the rest of the sheriff’s office, EMS and the request through the volunteer fire association, Cox said.

“Theresa’s (E-911 Center Operations Department Head Theresa Warburg) got one at E-911 and there’s a couple of more factored in for the 911 center also,” he said.

Cox also said they were working to get all of the kinks out with the State. They’re doing agreements to share talk groups between the State Patrol, Department of Public Safety, Department of Natural Resources and Georgia Forestry Commission, he said.

Howell said it looked like they may not even have to go with in-car radioes.

Cox added, “I foresee, his guys especially, when they realize how good they work and how clear they are, they won’t pick up that car radio very much.”

Boyd asked if they could go ahead and approve the purchase of the 120 radios from Southern Linc, right then. The commissioners gave their unanimous approval.