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PRESS RELEASE
The Board-of County Commissioners feel that they are coin,
pelled to answer the first two reports issued by the Weld County
Council which were prepared by their investigator. There are
several issues which cause the Commissioners concern.
First 'of all, we are concerned that, despite assurances from
the Weld County Council that we would be provided with copies of
the reports for our information and possible action, that was not
the case with the first two reports. The reports were issued on
September 4 , 1980 and it was not until the media furnished copies
of the report to the Board of County Commissioners that the Com-
missioners were able to review the reports and make this response.
(Reports were delivered to the Board of County Commissioners on
September 9 , 1980 at approximately 9 : 30 a.m. )
The issues raised in the reports have long since been settled.
The accommodations to make the system work have been in place for
several months . Meetings between the Sheriff' s Department and the
Communications Department now occur on a regular basis and are the
means now employed to insure that the system is serving the needs
of each department.
The decision to assign the radios to the nine fire departments
was a sound decision at the time it was made in 1975 and remained
a proper decision in 1979 . With the award of the LEAA Grant for
the consolidation of communications, the decision was made to consoli-
date all public safety communications, not merely law enforcement
communications . Under the grant, new equipment could be purchased
for law enforcement purposes but no provision was made for purchase
of the communication equipment for fire departments. The basis for
both decisions was that new equipment was being purchased for law
enforcement purposes and the old surplus equipment would then be
passed on to the various fire departments. The Board still takes
the position that this decision was a sound one .
It is to be noted that the Weld County Communications System
is set up to dispatch for other law enforcement agencies , not just
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the Weld County Sheriff ' s Department. The original agreement
with the towns of Weld County specified that the Communications
System would never be placed on the control of any single user
for the benefit of all. The Communications Advisory Board dis-
cussed this issue in detail in 1979 and resolved to the satis-
faction of all members, as well as, the County Commissioners .
For this reason, the recommendation of Augustine Associates and
the Council investigator were not implemented in 1979 .
The Communications Advisory Board meets on a regular basis
to take care of any problems that might arise from day to day in
connection with the operation of the Communications Department to
avoid unresolved problems in the future. The Weld County Sheriff
and the command officers have been extremely cooperative in solving
the various problems that have arisen over the past months and
years with Communications. Problems have arisen but are solved
by all parties meeting and mutually using their expertise and
experience in the field of communications to solve these problems
on an ongoing basis.
In summary, the Council ' s reports were dated and incomplete
in their information. Had the Board of County Commissioners, Com-
munications Department, or Sheriff been contacted prior to, or at
the time of, release, the misunderstanding created by the reports
could have been avoided.
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