Firelands High School causes a different kind of traffic jam

HENRIETTA TWP. — Once a year, Vermilion Road outside Firelands High School becomes the home of a different kind of traffic jam.

That day was March 25 for this year’s Future Farmers of America’s “drive your tractor to school’’ day, and nearly two dozen tractors of all sizes and ages were parked outside the school.

Garrett Schlechter, 17, and president-elect of the FFA, said the event has been going on for as long as he can remember. Tractor day is about more than just driving the tractor, he said, it’s an FFA program to bring awareness to farming and it ties into class work across all grades.

“I remember coming over and looking at the tractors on tractor day when I was in elementary school. That was always a fun experience for me,” he said.

The event has 17-year-olds driving tractors valued at up to $700,000 to school for the day. For a little perspective, the latest Ford GT supercar can be had for $200,000 less and those certainly aren’t found often in a high school parking lot.

Josh Kovach, 17, of Henrietta Township, said the John Deere he brought to school isn’t his; it’s owned by his employers, Jake and John Dovin of Dovin Farms in Oberlin. He said he understands the faith it takes for someone to lend him a $700,000 tractor for the day.

“It takes a lot of trust and I really appreciate the opportunity,” he said.

Josh isn’t exactly new to handling tractors. He said his family does a little bit of farming and he’s been driving tractors since he was 8 or 9. He’s been working at Dovin Farms for the last couple of years.

Henrietta Township isn’t exactly deep farming country, but Josh said he knows the difference his lifestyle offers.

“It’s beautiful out here, it really is,” he said.

Looking at the future, he said he’d like to continue his life in the agriculture field but the reality of modern farming stacks the deck against most people.

“It’s kind of hard to get into these days unless you’re established and have been doing it for a while, but we’ll see how it goes,” he said.

Josh

Robert Soucy

Robert Soucy, 89, a longtime resident of Oberlin, died Tuesday, March 14, 2023 in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. He was born June 25, 1933, to William and Bernice Soucy (nee Riley) in Topeka, Kansas.

Robert graduated from Washburn University in 1955, was a Fulbright scholar in Dijon, France in 1956-57, received his MA from the University of Kansas in 1957 and was an intelligence officer in the United States Air Force 1957-1960. He received his PhD from the University of Wisconsin in 1963, was an instructor at Harvard University from 1963-64, an assistant professor at Kent State University 1964-65, and an assistant and full professor at Oberlin College 1966-1998.

He was the author of seven books, specializing in French Fascist movements from 1924-1939. He was an avid squash, racquetball and tennis player who loved going to the movies.

He is survived by his daughters, Anne Marie Brinsmead and Alissa Soucy-McBride, as well as his grandchildren, Alan Brinsmead, Patrick McBride, Sara McBride and his great-grandson, Seamus Tuohy.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Sharon Soucy.

Study

FROM A1 current infrastructure that can be integrated into the county system, if such exists and address additional infrastructure necessary to achieve an acceptable rate of at least 95 percent radio signal service 95 percent of the time to the relevant geographic area, i.e. Lorain County and surrounding areas where mutual aid agreements exist or are contemplated.”

The study “should also examine projected maintenance costs and reasonably foreseeable costs of updating the system on a going-forward basis to ensure that county infrastructure remains capable of supporting new and emerging technology,” according to what Moore read out loud Friday.

During the meeting, Hung said the board “now have a hole we have to fill” after MCP “said they want to back away from doing this sort of thing with the county.”

“So we had to go out and find somebody to fill the hole,” she said.

In a letter dated Feb. 9, MCP said Moore and Riddell declined to meet with company representatives in January after rescinding the CCI contract. The Feb. 9 letter also served as MCP’s notice it had fulfilled its contract and ended its relationship with the county.

Later, Hung told The Chronicle-Telegram the firm was recruited to replace MCP “with very limited disclosure of information to me over the past weeks.”

Hung said she was told Friday “that this was the firm Commissioners Moore and Riddell would like to enter into a contract with for consulting services. The new firm will be tasked with assessing compliance standards to a P25 system, not a P25 Phase 2 system, as originally recommended by Mission Critical Partners.”

“Moving forward the county cannot be without a consulting firm for this process, and while a broad study, it will help us move forward,” she said.

Wellington Fire District Chief Mike Wetherbee, president of the Lorain County Fire Chiefs Association, criticized Friday’s decision by the board as abrupt, secretive, “and under the radar to avoid any opposition.”

His belief, and that of other critics of Moore and Riddell, is that the county plans to award the winning bid to the state’s Multi-Agency Radio Communications System, or MARCS.

Motorola is the vendor for MARCS, in use by most Ohio counties as well as the State Highway Patrol and Ohio Department of Transportation. It declined to bid on the Lorain County radio contract last year even after being granted a deadline extension.

Wetherbee said the fear is that the new consulting firm favors MARCS, which he has said would require costly equipment upgrades for its signal to work indoors in the county’s schools, hospitals and public buildings.

Lorain County “is already in a lawsuit over the last RFP (request for proposal) and recommendations from the previous communications expert because it was done properly, the outcome would have given the county the best radio system, and the costs associated with the system’s infrastructure was going to be incurred by the vendor,” Wetherbee said. “It fit all the criteria required except for the commissioner’s ability to manipulate it.” elected officials,” Schneider said.

“I’m experienced (enough) to know I’m not going to stand up here and guarantee someone’s safety until something’s resolved, but it’s our duty to give those in charge of that task everything we can to do it in the proper way and the way they see fit,” Schneider said.

There’s nothing stopping Wellington from purchasing the radios on its own as Elyria has been making plans to do, Moore said. The 2023 budget passed by Elyria City Council included $400,000 for the purchase of L3 Harris radios.

Moore said it even appeared Elyria’s plan would cost less per radio than the bid the county accepted in December.

“So it sounds like, to me if Wellington wishes to pursue it, they don’t have to wait,” he said.

Hung said March 24 she would continue to support safety forces and the five-year project to provide them with radios.

“Without a doubt, further delays continue to risk the health, safety, and welfare of our first responders and the residents of Lorain County,” Hung said. “I stand behind and remain steadfast with the decision to move forward with the resolutions passed on Dec. 21. I am hopeful my colleagues will choose to work with me to move the radio project forward.”

‘Politics’ questioned

Responding to Riddell’s call for patience on Tuesday and accusations that criticism of his and Moore’s vote was politically motivated, Wetherbee told the Chronicle-Telegram that the politics “are solely that of the commissioners at this point and their efforts to satisfy their agenda, whatever that may be.”

“The proponents of this system and the contract should be insulted at the least for his accusations that we are making this a political thing,” he wrote in an email. “This whole thing stinks of politics at this point, none of which were ever wanted by the safety services.”

Wetherbee said he has yet to see proof the process was flawed or unfair to begin with. Moore and Riddell “have nothing to support what they are claiming. They are rewriting a bid that they paid experts thousands of dollars to write and review, but can’t explain why? Just more political posturing,” he wrote.

Wetherbee said it’s impossible to be 100 percent safe all the time, but “the upgrade to a better, more reliable communication system will eliminate many of the issues we face at this time.”

“It is also understood that there is time needed to transition once a system is chosen, however, safety should always be an issue and should be a focus regardless,” he wrote.

Deputies: Still waiting

Lorain County Deputies Association President Adam Shaw said March 24 that his union’s patience is running thin after waiting for radio upgrades for five years. That’s five years of safety risks and “five years of hoping nothing bad happens,” he said.

Cities, townships and first responders “have voiced the opinion that this system was needed yesterday, but now two commissioners, who both had said they are not well-versed on radio technology, have stopped it,” he said.

Shaw and Wetherbee both criticized the county for going forward with the multimillion-dollar Midway Mall purchase while first responders wait on new radios.

“I’m sure one day we will get a radio system. I’m sure one day we won’t have the worries we have now, but what I’m not sure of is if that day will come before someone loses their life due to an antiquated radio system,” Shaw said. “A system that first responders and elected officials have warned is a safety issue and needs replaced sooner than later.”

“The LCDA is not looking for a battle of wits, we are not looking for a battle at all. We are looking for a safe working environment for us and everyone else,” he added, once again inviting the commissioners to ride along with deputies on road patrol any time.

The comments by Wetherbee and Shaw echo those of other members of the Lorain County Fire Chiefs Association, Sheriff Phil Stammitti, the Lorain County AFL-CIO and a host of other elected officials critical of the termination of the CCI contract.

Lawsuit update

In the meantime, attorneys for the Board of Commissioners and Lorain County have asked a judge to reject a portion of CCI’s breach of contract lawsuit filed in Common Pleas Court in January.

The law firm Dooley Gembala McLaughlin Pecora Tucker, hired by commissioners last month, petitioned visiting Judge Thomas Pokorny to reject CCI’s request to reinstate the $8 million contract in a pair of motions filed March 10. A retired Cuyahoga County Common Pleas judge, Pokorny was assigned the case to avoid any conflicts of interest.

CCI alleged the county breached a contract when Moore and Riddell rescinded the agreement on Jan. 9, less than a month after Hung and former Commissioner Matt Lundy approved it on Dec. 21.

In their response, the county’s attorneys denied that CCI’s bid “was ‘the most advantageous to the county,’” but did not say why or why not. CCI hasn’t suffered any damages from losing the contract either, they claimed.

The county also asked Pokorny to dismiss CCI’s request for an administrative appeal, arguing CCI doesn’t have the right under state law to ask Pokorny to overturn the board’s decision and award it the contract outright.

CCI has argued its bid was proper and that the Board of Commissioners “exercised a quasi-judicial function by hearing public comment and issuing findings without supporting evidence.”

The county’s attorneys argued the Jan. 9 hearing wasn’t “quasi-judicial” and CCI couldn’t, therefore, file an administrative appeal under Ohio law.

Put another way: CCI is appealing what it argues is an administrative decision while the county’s motion to dismiss argues that commissioners made a legislative decision, not an administrative one.

Pokorny has given CCI until April 7 to reply to the county’s motions, according to court records. The next scheduled hearing in the case is set on May 5, according to court records.

Contract ‘satistfied’

The consulting firm Mission Critical Partners, hired by the county five years ago to develop requirements for a countywide public safety radio system, is no longer involved in the process. That business relationship is ended, according to a Feb. 9 letter from MCP to a Lorain County official obtained by The ChronicleTelegram.

MCP Vice President and Director of Wireless Services Scott Neal wrote county Facilities Manger Dan Gross to say MCP had “satisfied its contractual obligations” to the county.

MCP was hired in 2018 to assess the county’s public safety radios and write requirements for a new one. A lengthy report was generated after MCP found it “evident that Lorain County’s system required replacement due to single points of failure and a lack of interoperability capabilities with other responder radio systems,” Neal wrote.

MCP eventually recommended CCI and the L3 Harris system after county officials told their consultants only the state-backed, Motorla-provided MARCS system or the L3 Harris radios would be considered “to keep the cost of the new system as low as possible and avoid having the county purchasing an independent system core,” he wrote.

The county’s evaluation committee scored and ranked the proposals, determined only CCI’s proposal complied and recommended it, Neal wrote.

Moore’s criticism of MCP’s work during the Jan. 9 board meeting “could not have been more inaccurate,” Neal wrote.

A planned Jan. 24 meeting between MCP and commissioners didn’t happen because Moore and Riddell didn’t want to meet the company’s representatives, according to Neal’s letter.

MCP “strongly maintains” the bidding process “was developed in a vendor-neutral manner as far as possible to be consistent with the county’s requirements for a shared network core,” he wrote. The entire bid process “complied with all county procurement rules and was approved by the county prosecutor’s office,” he wrote.