Choices for updating county communications topic of discussion
The recently released study of the county’s communications system dominated the conversation at the 9-1-1 Communications Board meeting Monday night.
The study was conducted by Jack Hart, a consultant for Tusa Consulting Services in Kansas City, MO, and he presented it to the county commissioners at their October 21 meeting.
The study was prompted after recent failures with the county’s tornado alert system as well as complaints from the emergency response personnel, police departments and fire departments.
Hart’s comprehensive study took several months to complete and included interviews of individual departments throughout the county.
In response to the tornado siren failures, Hart recommended a fix that would cost the county a few hundred dollars to implement, but the other problems weren’t fixed so cheaply. According to Hart’s report, the complaints of congested channels, poor reception, and an inadequate paging system could cost hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars to fix.
In his report, Hart recommended the county add towers and update equipment to 800-MHz systems and radios.
He also suggested upgrading to a “simulcast” system in which pages are sent across all three coverage areas simultaneously. This would hopefully take care of the gaps created when certain pagers in certain areas are activated and those fire fighters and responders aren’t located in those areas. “I don’t think this is a bad idea,” board member Scott Uebelhor said. “Holland fire fighters don’t necessarily work in Holland, they are in Huntingburg and if they can’t receive those pages, what’s it good for?”
The board discussed Hart’s recommendations as well as utilizing texting to contact emergency personnel cellphones in addition to the current pager system. Charlie McIntyre, Owner of Advanced Communications, recommended the board contact the Jefferson Township of Pike County about their text-based dispatch system.
Communications Director Janice Love pointed out that among the complaints some issues with the communications system would not be remedied by Hart’s suggestions. Namely, the ability for emergency personnel to receive and make radio calls inside the county’s buildings.
The board meeting was important as the county moves forward with deciding what recommendations from the report to adopt for updating the aging communications system.
A meeting between county officials and emergency responders is scheduled for November 18 to discuss the recommendations in the report.
–The board also heard that the entire 9-1-1 and dispatch system hardware and software next spring. This is due to Microsoft no longer supporting the operating system it uses, Windows XP, and the software vendor, CML, will no longer support the software on those devices. Communications director Janice Love stated she expected this to cost up to $200,000.
