The Warren County Board of Supervisors met Monday to discuss the county’s radio system and work at RiverFront Park but made no final decisions.

First on the agenda was a proposal by Motorola Solutions regarding a radio system conversion to aid first responders.

A task force has been evaluating upgraded radio systems that could be used to assist first responders. At Monday’s meeting, representatives from Motorola Solutions along with John Elfer, the director of the Emergency Management Agency, presented estimated pricing for the conversion to the MSWIN Radio System.

The final cost of a new system would depend on which tier system is selected and the number of individual radios purchased, Elfer said.

“We haven’t had any problems that I know of communicating with the sheriffs department, the road department, the fire department, volunteers and the city,” Board President Bill Lauderdale said.

Elfer disagreed.

“There are some serious deficits out there and some dead zones, especially in Bovina. We have been able to mitigate that by the wireless commission giving us some MSWIN talk groups. We are using MSWIN now on some of the channels,” Elfer said.

“MSWIN is a statewide system, and we think their package will improve radio service,” he said.

The new system would offer upgrades until the year 2030, said Paula Merritt, an account executive at Motorola Solutions.

“Lots of pieces and parts of the current system are no longer available and are hard to repair,” Elfer said.

If the system is not replaced, the greatest problem lies in the software.

“The core is the most critical issue. If the core goes down, your site goes down, and your dispatch goes down,” Armond Anding, an engineer for Motorola Solutions said.

If the county was to choose to move toward the MSWIN radio system, Merritt said financing is available through Motorola Credit Care, if needed.

Following the MSWIN presentation, John McKee, the county engineer, and Brian Robbins of Stantec Engineering presented a proposal by Burns Cooley Dennis, Inc.

The company submitted their recommendations for the geotechnical exploration and slope stabilization for the riverbank at the Vicksburg Riverfront Park.

McKee said he had just received the proposal from the Burns Cooley Dennis, Inc., and it was suggested that a cover letter be drawn up so a copy of the proposal could be shared with the city.

The agreement with the Riverfront Park would be a 50-50 agreement with the city and the county, Lauderdale said

The supervisors agreed that even if a decision was made to go forward with the geotechnical exploration on the stabilization, nothing could be done until August.

“You couldn’t do anything about it today,” George said, because of the water levels of the Mississippi.

During the session the supervisors also listened to recommendations made from members of the election commission.

The commission presented their recommendations for 13 precinct name changes and one precinct change.

Lonnie Wooley, one of the commissioners, said the name changes would reflect the names of the actual locations of the voting prescient facilities.

After discussing the recommendations made by the election committee members, the supervisors asked Ken Coleman, the IT director for Warren Country, to review the information before further discussion or a decision could be made.

Other items on the agenda included requests from the Vicksburg National Military Park for support of the sunset concert scheduled for May 23, a request from the Beulah Cemetery for assistance in two sprayings and cuttings of the cemetery, and the Warren County Parks and Recreation requested funds for two defibulators, one for the golf course and one for the soccer field.

A letter was also received from Sheriff Martin Pace requesting metal detectors at each entrance at the Vicksburg Courthouse.

“We are going to meet with him and talk with him further about this,” Lauderdale said.

John Smith, the county administrator, also brought to the attention of the supervisors that they had not executed their agreement for the Vicksburg Tallulah Regional airport.

Smith said he and Lauderdale visited the VTG last week and met with Gary Estes, the Vicksburg representative for the airport.

At present, the VTG is looking at adding a T-hanger.

Smith said that the supervisors would need to find out what their responsibility would be before they could support the project.

“We are going to contact the owners and see about getting a meeting together,” Smith said.