The Dubuque County (Iowa) Board of Supervisors pressed the county`s secondary roads department staff to increase priority on fixing malfunctioning radio equipment.

The supervisors on Monday heard from Dubuque County Road Maintenance Superintendent Chad Danielson that a newly installed radio system that enables Dubuque County`s 9-1-1 dispatchers to communicate with snow plow drivers is not working properly. During a test last week, Danielson said he was able to hear dispatchers but was not able to answer on a truck radio. He said it only seems to work from the main shop on Dubuque`s west side and the Farley shop.

“I don`t want (dispatchers) to tell trucks where to go, but before (dispatchers) would call me on the phone and depending on where I am at, it`s difficult. Radio would be easier,” said Danielson, who primarily coordinates plow operations.

The new radio cost about $7,200 to install at the dispatch center and is the same radio used in county road vehicles, according to Engineer Bret Wilkinson.

Danielson said the department also has had some distance issues with hand-held radio devices, saying crews stopped using them this summer because they were unreliable. Wilkinson said the provider, ComElec, has been to the department to work on different channels and frequencies to resolve the issue, and that work is still ongoing. He said these devices, purchased in 2012, are not used as often so it can take more time to figure out issues.

Supervisor Daryl Klein asked how that issue has not yet been resolved and whether Wilkinson has been working with service providers to fix issues.

“If we`re paying for them, they should work,” Klein said. “We need to be forceful.”

Klein said the issue seems to be countywide with department heads not pushing providers to ensure quality and results in products and services. He added that, if these were personal purchases, most people would likely be more persistent on resolving issues sooner.

“It`s a terrible waste of county resources,” he said. “We owe the taxpayers more than that.”

Wilkinson said the department will conduct an overview of both the 9-1-1 radio and those already in use by the county to determine where the issue lies, as well as continue work on the portable radios.

“We don`t know whether it`s an issue just at (911) dispatch, or on our end with the repeaters,” Wilkinson said.