ELYRIA, Ohio — The effort to agree on a badly needed new radio system for Lorain County first responders will soon be heading toward its sixth year as political in-fighting over a new radio vendor continues.
Many Lorain County safety leaders told News 5 that while the political battle goes on, police, fire and EMS are forced to continue to use a radio system that presents a safety and response risk for first responders and the public.
We don’t just report the initial story—we follow through to its conclusion. Read and watch our previous reporting on this story below and see more stories that we've followed through on here.
Capt. Robert Vansant with the Lorain County Sheriff's Department told News 5 that a new radio system is needed as soon as possible.
"In certain buildings and certain townships, we just don't get any radio reception at all, and that's our lifeline; I mean, we're talking minutes before a backup unit can arrive," Vansant said. "You're just not getting any radio traffic at all, there's a lot of static, you're dropping calls, you're not hearing anybody on the radio."
Vansant and Lorain County Commissioner Michelle Hung were thrilled when the commissioners approved a $6.7 million contract for a new phase two radio system from Cleveland Communications Inc., or CCI, in late 2022.
But then, in early January 2023, Lorain County Commissioners David Moore and Jeff Riddell voted to rescind the contract, alleging Hung steered the CCI agreement, triggering a series of investigations and further delaying a badly needed new radio system for hundreds of police, fire and EMS first responders.
After nearly 10 months of delays and CCI filing a lawsuit against Lorain County for backing out of the contract, Hung was found not to have taken part in steering the CCI contract in two separate investigations.
"It's been investigated by the state auditor, Keith Faber, and it's been investigated here locally. Commissioner Moore has wasted state and county dollars on claiming this process was steered and rigged; we have two investigations that there is no proof," Hung said. "As a result, we have the community, we have the residents, we have the safety responders, they're all sitting and waiting."
Hung told News 5 that commissioners Moore and Riddell are taking bids on a new MARCS, or Multi-Agency Radio Communications System, which she said is a phase one system that is antiquated technology and would likely require the constriction of radio towers that could cost millions of tax dollars.
News 5 contacted Moore's office for this story to get his comments on the lawsuit and why he supports the MARCS radio system, but we're still waiting for a response. News 5 also reached out to Riddell, and while he returned our call, we're still waiting for a statement.
Meanwhile, Vansant called for an end to the political in-fighting and asked the public to get involved in selecting a new first responder radio system.
"The next step for us would be to get a special prosecutor to allow us to move forward, allow us to issue subpoenas, search warrants if we need them, and just close this investigation out," Vansant said. "The public, they should be outraged, they should be concerned, and they should be asking the questions why, why have we not been able to get this resolved."
News 5 is committed to following through on this developing story.
