EXCELSIOR SPRINGS – The City Council approved the Fire Department’s radio system upgrade request. Assistant Chief of Communications Camron White told city leaders in a memo that updating the system would cost $291,018 with an estimated $2,500 licensing fee. The $82,492 first phase involves adding a Motorola channel. The $208,526 second phase pays for two-way radios. “Hopefully, we’ll be using the equipment right after the new year,” White said Nov. 20. The department had hoped to have the gear operational sooner. “COVID just kind of slowed things down,” White said. White in the memo told city leaders upgrades would expand the department’s ability to communicate with other Kansas City area agencies through the Metropolitan Area Regional Radio System. Upgrades will help the department communicate with fire departments that provide mutual aid, like Liberty and Kearney, and with the Excelsior Springs Police Department, White said. The fire department’s VHF system – “an older,…