The Crestwood Fire Department will have a new emergency communications system, despite some cost concerns from board members.

The board, which met June 26, voted 7-1 to approve an ordinance for the city to enter into an agreement with the St. Louis County Emergency Communications Commission for subscriber radios with the county’s interoperable radio system. Ward 2 alderman Bob Deutschmann was opposed.

Acting City Administrator Karl Kestler, who did not attend the board meeting, wrote in a memo to the board, “All agencies are required to approve an agreement with the ECC prior to issuance of the new radios.” He also stated the ECC will pay for installation costs to convert and program the radios. The agreement also includes police, fire and public works radios “when they are issued at a later date,” Kestler wrote.

The ECC will provide a one-year warranty and, according to the ECC user agreement, St. Louis County will “fund the annual depot maintenance costs for the radios for the five-year, post-warranty period …” The ECC agreement also states in the event “the St. Louis County Council fails to appropriate the funds necessary to cover the annual depot maintenance costs, ECC’s obligation to pay for maintenance costs shall be terminated without financial penalty to ECC.”

Ward 3 Alderman Jerry Miguel voiced concern about the specifics of the agreement.

“It just seems to me that what’s happening here is that the ECC is getting ready to lay off the maintenance costs on the agency, which is Crestwood,” Miguel told the board. “So I’m wondering what kind of an agreement are we really getting into here from a cost standpoint?”

Deputy Police Chief Frank Arnoldy told the board there has not been any discussion other than “that they were going to do the one-year warranty and the additional years covered by the ECC.”

“I would think if that the County Council were to decide that they weren’t going to fund it with the [E-911] tax covering the amount of money that’s needed, I would think that the municipal league would jump up loud and quick and hold their feet to the fire,” Arnoldy told the board.

When Ward 4 Alderman Dan Tennessen asked if the city is able to be released from obligation if funding is not provided, City Attorney Rob Golterman said Crestwood does not “really have any obligations” under the agreement other than to participate in the regional emergency communications program.

“It is fully the county’s intention to fund the maintenance (of the equipment) through the tax,” Golterman said. “They have to have the annual appropriation language in there, which we often have in our agreements when we go to outside vendors …”

Because Crestwood would receive new radios, paid for by the county, with maintenance paid for up to five years, Ward 3 Alderman Paul Duchild said it sounds like the city is “getting a better deal” than it currently has.

Ward 4 Alderman John Foote said Crestwood will have a system that “can tap into all resources.”

“You have a very good system under one, large umbrella,” Foote said. “Currently, you have a fractured system, which has the police in one system, the fire in another system, and some dispatch areas that aren’t hooked into anything.”

The proposed system, according to Arnoldy, will allow Crestwood to communicate between disciplines, which it cannot do with its current system. From a homeland security standpoint, entering into the ECC program is the “next, logical step” to bring interoperability into the region, Arnoldy said.

“As far as if we were to go it alone, I think our expenses are going to go through the roof, and I would think we’re looking at $10(,000) or $12,000 minimum of narrowbanding that we need to do by the end of the year,” Arnoldy said. “We would have to work with South County Fire Alarm about having them maintain a VHF radio system just for Crestwood. It’s not an option I would really like to see.”

But Deutschmann said he does not believe the city should get involved until it knows how much the agreement will cost the city.

“We have no idea what this is going to cost us, and I’m definitely against giving an agency a blank check until we know exactly what it’s going to cost us,” he said.

The equipment currently in use, according to Arnoldy, eventually will be sold.

In other business, the board approved the following items:

● Liquor license request from Pints and Rails.

● Toll Road request from the Crestwood Fire Department to benefit Backstoppers.

● Resolution regarding execution of certain financial documents relating to securities.

● Purchase of thermal imagers and multi-gas detectors

● Budget amendment for purchase of thermal imagers and multi-gas detectors.