Council authorizes IGA for radio and dispatch services as county plans tower replacement

City staff presented an item authorizing the city manager to enter into an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with Douglas County for communications services covering radio tower and dispatch functions.

Staff explained the county instituted a radio fee in 2019 to support tower and hardware replacement and said the county is increasing fees by 4% for the coming year. The presenter provided a total cost figure of $616,858.20 for communications services and said the county is planning a large, multi‑million‑dollar tower‑replacement project (staff cited a $23,000,000 figure when describing the scope of county work). Council members asked how Roseburg’s recently installed redundancy radio channel would interoperate with county systems; staff said the local system works well and could be made available to dispatch if needed.

Council moved and approved authorization for the city manager to enter the communications IGA. Ending: Staff said the IGA will continue current radio and dispatch services while county planning for longer-term infrastructure replacement proceeds.