(Source: MIRS.news, Published 02/20/2024) The communications and records management system used by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) conservation officers would see a $1.58 million upgrade under the Governor's proposed DNR $542.8 million budget.
Speaking before a House appropriations subcommittee Tuesday morning, DNR Budget specialist Jason Crandall said a $700,000 consolidation project within the DNR's Law Enforcement Division will merge their incident and records management system, easing the burden on conservation officers (CO).
Crandall said the system is used statewide to track daily activity reports and incident reports. It sees a high volume of use across several state agencies, and often it can't handle it. It frequently runs slowly. Sometimes it crashes, causing data to be lost.
It also requires an internet connection to work, something that can be an issue for COs working in rural areas or parts of the state with spotty connectivity.
“You're a CO. You're going to enter some records into the system,” said Crandall, painting a picture for the panel. “You’re trying to log in, and you get what is not so affectionately referred to as the blue circle of death . . . You try to log in a couple of different times. You’re still waiting. Maybe 20 minutes later, you finally get into the system, and then when you get into the system, it’s bogged down, so it’s extremely slow.”
Crandall said the stop-and-start process is frustrating for COs.
He referenced a survey of COs that found 85 percent of officers reported having issues with the system, 80 percent experienced failures when completing the daily activity reports, 75 percent experienced system crashes and loss of data, 70 percent reported connectivity issues and 74 percent indicated experiencing issues every time they use the system.
“As you can see, this is a significant concern for our COs,” he said.
Crandall said the system could be improved through a new cloud-based, vendor-managed software program to replace the current record management system.
Rep. Ken Borton (R-Gaylord), also the subcommittee's minority vice chair, expressed concern that the budget line item addresses connectivity issues for COs, but not the hunters who are required to report a kill and also don’t have connectivity out in the woods.
“I live in rural northern Michigan. I'm used to having to drive to the library if I want to make sure that I (can) connect and do something,” he said. “So, I don't understand why it's such an issue for the COs when we're forcing our hunters to do this. It's the exact same thing.”
DNR Director Scott Bowen responded that there are 48 hours for a hunter to fill out their required reports, “and you can do that at home, with the leisure of being at home.
“Our officers don’t have that,” he said. “They’re responding to urgent situations, emergency situations.”
The DNR also highlighted an $878,300 line item for equipment modernization, enabling the DNR to implement a life cycle replacement plan for CO and firefighter radio equipment.
Crandall said more than half of the radios and modems currently being used by the department are beyond their life cycle.
“These are our first responders,” he said. “They depend on having modern, safe, efficient equipment to perform their necessary duties.”
He said having antiquated and inefficient communications equipment can delay response times, limit the ability to communicate with other agencies and put staff and public safety at risk.
The DNR’s $878,300 would allow for a 10-year life cycle replacement plan for handheld radios and modems, with roughly 10 percent of radios replaced each year, and handheld radios replaced every four years.
Borton also questioned the department about the potential change from an opt-in to an opt-out for recreation passports, which is expected to bring in $17 million for the department.
Crandall said the full revenue increase of an opt-out program would be a little over $21 million before factoring in the approximately $4 million revenue loss from offering free recreation passports to active military members and Michigan-residing veterans.
He said the revenue would be broken down into $8.6 million to fund state park capital outlay, $5.2 million for state park operations and maintenance, $1.7 million towards local public recreation facilities grants, $1.2 million for state forest campgrounds and pathways, $0.5 million towards state park cultural and historic resources and $0.1 million for the promotion of state parks and recreation areas.
Borton said he’s a big proponent of state recreation passports, but followed with, “Do you think it’s fair to force people to have to pay for it that have no intention whatsoever of ever utilizing a state park, and then making it burdensome for them?”
He said his constituents feel it’s an undue burden.
Bowen responded that, “forcing them, I think, is a really strong word.
“We’re not forcing anybody,” he said. “This isn’t a tax. You can opt out by filling out a postcard, literally mailing it in, and we’re going to have postage prepaid. We’ll be sending you a check for $14 if you want to opt out.”
