County eyes $3M radio switch
Jenn Brookens — Staff WriterFAIRMONT - Martin County is looking to upgrade its radio technology.
The Federal Communi-cations Commission has mandated that by Jan. 1, 2013, all agencies operating radio systems below 512 MHz must modify their radio systems to a narrowband technology. This has become more of a hot topic since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and brought to the forefront in Minnesota when the I-35 bridge collapsed in 2007.
"The ARMER 800 MHz proved to be invaluable when the bridge collapsed," said Tom Johnson of Minnesota's Department of Public Safety. "My office in Coon Rapids was able to act and assist with the Minneapolis department with anything they needed; it allowed the interaction with the other departments."
ARMER is a statewide radio system that improves coverage and seamless roaming, along with increasing capacity. Using it also would result in less infrastructure for the county to own and maintain.
Backbone operating costs of the system are borne by the state. There is already a state-operated tower in the Truman area, with plans to construct state-operated towers in Fairmont and Sherburn for optimal coverage.
"A lot of people thought cell phones would be the 'be-all and end-all,' Johnson said. "But when the bridge collapsed, I tried to get my sergeant on the cell phone, and I couldn't. So I got on the 800 MHz radio and was able to contact everyone I needed."
In cases like the I-35 bridge collapse and the 9-11 attacks, cell phone towers become overloaded. A more common problem in outstate Minnesota is that some remote areas do not get reliable cell phone coverage.
"This past weekend, when we had a drowning out on Iowa Lake, I had 17 different agencies respond, and it about did us in," Gerhardt said. "That's when something like this would come in really handy. We had agencies from Iowa coming in that I didn't even know existed. But we were able to do something in three hours in what took us three days the last time we had a drowning."
Along with details about the ARMER system, the presentation to commissioners included options of going to a narrowband analog or a digital VHF. The problems with these two options were evident. While going to a narrowband analog is the least expensive, analog soon will become obsolete, meaning the county would need to buy a pricier system in the future.
"To me, that's not even an option," Gerhardt said. The board agreed.
VHF digital is only slightly less expensive than the ARMER system, but does not address the many other radio communication problems faced, except for complying with FCC regulations.
"It was seeing the lists of strengths and weaknesses that really made it clear to me," Gerhardt told commissioners.
The price tag for ARMER is hefty: $1.79 million for the capital cost and first-year maintenance, with about a $3 million cost over 10 years. But Federal Engineering - a company that spoke to commissioners Tuesday - stated several grants are available. Special bonding provisions, exempt from levy limitations, apply to any local ARMER implementation and allow the public safety communication purpose to be listed separately on property tax statements.
"There is a grant where we could get up to $30,000 to put toward this," Gerhardt said. "But the bad news is that grant expires in June 2010. So we're under some major time constraints."
Johnson mentioned there are annual grants from FEMA and Homeland Security available.
"The others aren't really an option, and we'd basically be getting a Cadillac for the price of a Chevy," Commission chairman Steve Donnelly said of receiving grants to implement the radio switchover. "Now it's just the timing."
Commissioners moved to accept the report, and will likely move forward on the ARMER system at their next meeting.
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10-07-09 2:21 AM
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All city, county sheriff, county DOT, and EMS providers will be required to switch to this new system, no ifs, ands, or buts. It will not be a cadillac or a chevy, but it will work, due to built-in redundancy.
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