Council approves purchase of two Motorola APX 6000 handheld radios for police

The City Council on Sept. 9 authorized the city manager to enter an agreement with Motorola for two APX 6000 handheld radios, including batteries, licensing and programming, at a total not-to-exceed price of $10,510.

Chief of Police Beth Andreski told the council the department began phasing in replacement radios last year and that the current handheld units are about 12 years old and out of warranty. "Our current handheld radios are about 12 years old. They went out of warranty at 10 years," Andreski said, explaining the replacement need. She said the purchase was budgeted in FY26 and that staff purchased through a Johnson County, Kansas, state contract to secure pricing without issuing a local bid.

Council members asked whether the equipment specifications overlapped with the fire department’s radios and whether there were potential economies of scale. Staff replied the fire radios have different specifications (for heat and fire-related durability) and that the police radios were the best-priced option under the state contract. The motion to approve the purchase passed on a unanimous roll call: Council member Lewis — yes; Council member Prashant Hellman — yes; Council member Solomanov — yes; Chairman Pro Tem Weil — yes.

The city manager was authorized to finalize the purchase and related programming and licensing per the contract terms; staff identified no further council direction.