Nassau County Legislator Joseph Scannell (D-Baldwin) and members of the Rules Committee this month approved a $44.6 million contract with MOTOROLA, Inc., for the furnishing, delivery and installation of a Land Mobile Radio Modernization System, for the Police Department. These new radios will allow for 95 to 97% coverage in the County at the highest audibility standard. The system is interoperable, via a feature known as MotoBridge,with outside agencies such as villages, towns, Office of Emergency Management, volunteer fire departments, village police departments and city police departments.

“This new system will be invaluable in any emergency on a large scale and assure that all our emergency response personnel are utilizing the most modern and safe equipment available,” said Scannell, chair of the Public Safety Committee..

The Rules Committee also approved a $260,000 contract on behalf of the of the Department of Parks, with ELAINE HEUMANN GURIAN, LLC., to provide services as a museum consultant and provide an analysis and strategic planning for the County’s museums, historic houses and interpretive centers. The services will include a comprehensive plan focusing on current and future operations, assessments of current relationships with privately run institutions, assessment of current and proposed relationships with entities which support museums, etc., i.e. Friends and the Nature Conservancy.

“Ms. Heumann has a remarkable resume, including working at the Smithsonian Institute and I am very pleased that Nassau County now has her on board,” said Scannell.

The members of the legislature also authorized the supplemental appropriation of funds in connection with the following programs:

• $150,000 to Nassau Community College (Work Study Programs)
• $10,000 to Health Department (Rabies Program) -This grant from the NYS Dep’t of Health provides for rabies prevention, post exposure treatment consultation, and control services throughout the County. It is 100% State funded.
• $14,915 to Senior Citizen Affairs (SNAP) -This grant from the New York State Office for the Aging is to provide home delivered meals to nutritionally at risk seniors, many of whom are low income, frail or minorities. They also provide breakfasts and take home weekend meals to low income seniors. The program serves 475 clients annually.
• $3,405 to Senior Citizen Affairs (Title VII Long Term Care Ombudsman Program) This grant from the New York State Office for the Aging is to expand the existing Ombudservice Program in nursing homes and utilize volunteers and a paid coordinator to work closely with residents, families, administrators and staff in adult homes, in order to resolve difficulties. No County match is required.
• $349,300 to Probation Department (Pre Trial Screening)-This grant, from the NYS Department of Probation and Correctional Alternatives, is used for a program which screens all offenders detained after arrest to determine eligibility for release under the least restrictive conditions necessary to ensure return to court.
• $188,327 to Medical Examiner (Aid to Crime Laboratories)

The Aid to Forensic Laboratories grant, from the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services, is to enhance DNA laboratory operations to maintain NYS Accreditation standards. Using the County operated lab will greatly reduce the cost of forensic testing as compared to outsourcing to private DNA labs.

Scannell and members of the Rules committee also approved the following contracts:

On behalf of the Nassau County Youth Board, $307,664.35 with Whitson’s Food Service Corp. for the Summer Food Service Program for 2005; and on behalf of the Correctional Center, in the amount of $209,717, for the purchase of fresh breads and rolls from Rockland Bakery in Nanuet.

The legislature tabled a vote on the Nassau Community College Budget. That item will be untabled at the July 11 meeting.