County Radio ID Licenses
Dear Somerset County,
This is a request for public records made under OPRA and the common law right of access. I am not required to fill out an official form. Please acknowledge receipt of this message.
Records requested:
- Financial documentation for the purchasing of radio ID licenses for radios on the Somerset County radio system to include the cost per license, cost in full, and quantity of licenses purchased.
- Assignment of licensees, by quantity, to agencies which have access to the Somerset County radio system. (Agencies need not be dispatched by the County and is to include all mutual aid organizations.
- Should any part of this request be unavailable, please kindly specify why such as “no such purchase has ever been made” or any other reasoning as would be applicable.
Yours faithfully,
F.T. Wilkens
We apologize for the delayed response, as you may be aware Somerset County has experienced a Cyber Event and is in the process of restoring full functionality.
Due to the event, your OPRA request was received by the Records Custodian on June 3, 2022 and will be processed. OPRA allows the records custodian to seek extensions of time pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5i. The County anticipates requiring an additional three weeks (until June 24, 2022) to compile, review, and produce the potentially responsive records in accordance with New Jersey law. The County also reserves the right to request an additional extension of time, if necessary. See Scheeler v. New Jersey Department of Educ., GRC Complaint No. 2014-123 (2016).
We would ask that you be patient as we continue to work towards full restoration.
Kelly L. Mager
Clerk of the Board
Somerset County
Board of County Commissioners Office
20 Grove Street • P.O. Box 3000
Somerville, NJ 08876-1262
www.co.somerset.nj.us
Ph: 908-231-7030
Fx: 908-231-8754
With reference to your OPRA request, please see the attachment.
Your Open Public Records request has thus been processed in accordance with N.J.S.A. 47:1A:1, and I am closing the file.
Kelly L. Mager
Clerk of the Board
Somerset County
Board of County Commissioners Office
20 Grove Street • P.O. Box 3000
Somerville, NJ 08876-1262
www.co.somerset.nj.us
Ph: 908-231-7030
Fx: 908-231-8754
Dear Kelly Mager,
Thank you for your prompt response, especially considering current circumstances. It is noted that you have provided the number of licenses assigned to each municipality within Somerset County which is not what was requested. This list did not include license provided to municipalities such as Middlesex Borough of Middlesex County which has it's own station number, multiple Piscataway Township fire companies also in Middlesex County, or private organizations such as Mine Brook Search & Rescue in Somerset County which services no particular municipality whatsoever.
I would kindly request that you please respond to the original question below:
- Assignment of licensees, by quantity, to agencies which have access to the Somerset County radio system. (Agencies need not be dispatched by the County and is to include all mutual aid organizations.
Yours sincerely,
F.T. Wilkens
I will contact our 911 center again and ask them if we have any records related to this request.
Kelly
Dear F.T. Wilkens,
I have reached out to our Communications Division in response to your follow up email and have been informed that Somerset County is the Licensee and we issue radio IDs based on our license. There is no "license" given to another entity by Somerset County.
Your original OPRA requested the " Financial documentation for the purchasing of radio ID licenses for radios on the Somerset County radio system to include the cost per license, cost in full, and quantity of licenses purchased", which was provided.
The second portion of your request requested "Assignment of licensees, by quantity, to agencies which have access to the Somerset County radio system. (Agencies need not be dispatched by the County and is to include all mutual aid organizations", as Somerset County is the only license holder, there are no assignment of licensees. However, in an attempt to be transparent, you were provided with a list of number of subscribers who are issued radio IDs on our system.
You have stated that we did not provide the original information as requested, however as explained above, we believe that the information requested has been provided. If you would like to clarify exactly what records and information you are seeking, as it appears there is a misunderstanding of what items are being requested, we can search our records to provide that information.
Thank you for your patience,
Kelly
Kelly L. Mager
Clerk of the Board
Somerset County
Board of County Commissioners Office
20 Grove Street • P.O. Box 3000
Somerville, NJ 08876-1262
www.co.somerset.nj.us
Ph: 908-231-7030
Fx: 908-231-8754
Dear Kelly Mager,
Thank you again for you very prompt and complete responses!
In your first response your office provided financial records showing that "500 Radio User Licenses" in a quantity of 10 (5,000 total user licenses) were purchased from Motorola on February 25, 2010. Each of these "user licenses" allows for the legal existence of a single unique radio ID on the County radio system as per the presumptive contract entered with Motorola on behalf of the Commissioners. In this instance it would be reasonably understood that a "user license" and a "radio ID" as interchangeable as one could not exist without the other. For example, upon submission of my initial request for "radio ID licenses", your office provided a numerical value representing the number of "radio IDs" assigned to specific municipalities which shows that it is understood that these terms are reasonably interchangeable.
In an effort to clarify any misunderstandings as indicated in your response, please provide the following:
- Assignment of user licenses (radio IDs), by quantity, to agencies which have access to the Somerset County radio system. (Agencies need not be dispatched by the County and is to include all mutual aid organizations.)
If your office wishes for me to file another OPRA request, I would gladly be obliged to do so.
Yours sincerely,
F.T. Wilkens
Good morning F.T.,
I will reach out to our Communications Division and see if this provides enough clarification on the request.
There is no need to file an additional OPRA, this email will be treated as your OPRA request.
Kelly
Kelly L. Mager
Clerk of the Board
Somerset County
Board of County Commissioners Office
20 Grove Street • P.O. Box 3000
Somerville, NJ 08876-1262
www.co.somerset.nj.us
Ph: 908-231-7030
Fx: 908-231-8754
With reference to your OPRA request, please see the attachment.
Your Open Public Records request has thus been processed in accordance with N.J.S.A. 47:1A:1, and I am closing the file.
Thank you for your patience while Somerset County continues to recover from a cyber incident.
Kelly L. Mager
Clerk of the Board
Somerset County
Board of County Commissioners Office
20 Grove Street • P.O. Box 3000
Somerville, NJ 08876-1262
www.co.somerset.nj.us
Ph: 908-231-7030
Fx: 908-231-8754