Opp will join the rest of the county in upgrading to digital radios.

SPC owner Jay Spurlin said that every other entity in the county has agreed to make the switch – something that took the city of Opp by surprise.

“This just happened,” he said. “Every other entity jumped on board.”

To make it happen, Spurlin is putting in infrastructure in Opp and Florala.

“It is going to cost me $65,000 for each site to install,” he said. “This will give us communication with every single entity.”

The system being purchased is a wide area, SECURE, multi-site communications system that most all surrounding agencies will use, Spurlin said.

The system also has options such as GPS location, man down, 56-bit DES encryption, and many others that are important.

The cost is $30,911 or $926.90 per month for the police department.

That includes:

• 32 portable radios;

• 10 mobile radios, and;

• Six dispatch control stations.

The cost is $16,674 or $491.58 per month for the fire department.

That includes:

• 18 portable radios;

• 3 mobile radios.

Spurlin will charge a monthly system usage charge of $420.

The lease-to-own price will be good for three years and then the city will own the equipment.

“The $420 will be there as long as you’re on the system,” Spurlin said.

Opp Police Chief Mike McDonald said he had no idea the county would commit to purchasing new radios.

“I want to thank Jay for eating a lot of the front end costs,” McDonald said.