911 upgrade plan presented
The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors have heard a proposal to update 911 communications countywide.
Montgomery County Emergency Management coordinator Brian Hamman, as well as representatives of the Red Oak Fire and Police Departments, and the Stanton Fire Department, met with the supervisors at the regular meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 27.
Hamman outlined details of the proposed changeover to the supervisors. The proposal from Motorola, with discounts, would cost the county roughly $5.28 million. Hamman said the system they are looking at would start from the ground up, with an entirely new radio communications system for all public safety in Montgomery County.
Hamman also shared the issues with the current system, including the age, reception problems due to the narrow-banding of the UHF signal, and the lack of county-owned radio towers.
Red Oak Fire Chief John Bruce highlighted a recent issue that had occurred due to communication problems in the county.
“We had a fire west of Red Oak, and we were paged to the fire by communications, but the system was down and wasn’t received by us. Communications had to call us at the fire station and alert us that we had been paged. During the church fire, the incident commander could not talk to the dispatcher, and that fire was only a few blocks from the communications center. We’re flirting with disaster, I think,” Bruce said.
Some of the first responders advised they had to use their cell phones for communication when they had no radio signals, but even that was sometimes in doubt, as there were areas where cell phones failed to work as well.
Red Oak Police Chief Justin Rhamy said officer safety was one of his primary concerns and felt the new system was important.
“A few years ago, we had an officer in town getting choked. He couldn’t get to his radio for a period of time, and when he was able to reach it, the calls weren’t coming through. Deputies have to change their radio channels depending on what part of the county they’re in. When they’re on their way to a high priority call, that’s the last thing on their minds. Officer safety is of grave concern to us. We’ve got to make some changes somewhere, at some point in time,” Rhamy said.
Deputy Jon Spunaugle said they had no radio contact on some areas of the highway, which was dangerous when making a traffic stop and had only gotten worse with narrow-banding.
“We’ve done upgrades, but there are still areas where we have no communication at all. We had one scenario where dispatch called a deputy because he wasn’t responding on his radio. He was in town, and couldn’t hear at all. In the summer months, when humidity is high, radios are almost useless for a couple of hours. Again, narrow-banding has made that issue worse, and we have to rely more and more on our cell phones,” Spunaugle said.
The supervisors also spoke with D.A. Davidson representative Mike Summers, who outlined general obligation bonding options to the county, should they proceed with updating the 911 system.
• A nine-year general obligation bond would generate an average annual payment of $723,997. Impact to the levy would be $1,1926 per $1,000 valuation.
• A 10-year GO bond generated an annual average payment of $662,611, with a levy impact of $1.0914 per $1,000 valuation.
• A 15-year GO bond generated an annual average payment of $481,670, and the levy impact was $0.7934 per $1,000 valuation.
Supervisor Bryant Amos said everyone has done what they had to do to operate, and it was time for change.
“It’s nobody’s fault we did not upgrade to a point where it saves us money now. With the state system going in, we can’t do nothing, or we’ll have nothing, or we may end up spending more on our own system. This is a chance to put the entire county on the same system as other counties, which is even more important today than it used to be. Mutual aid is something we have to have,” Amos said.
Hamman said if a contract was signed with Motorola on Feb. 27, it would be roughly 18 months to bring the system operational. He advised the emergency management commission recommended the supervisors approve the plan for the new system.
Red Oak city administrator Brad Wright stressed that this wasn’t an emergency management issue, or something for a catastrophic event. It was for daily operations.
“Our police and firefighters need this every day. It’s a need. It’s not a want,” Wright said.
The supervisors plan to hold an informational meeting on the 911 system upgrade at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 17 in the courtroom of the Montgomery County courthouse.