FoxComm members push for radio upgrades at county meeting PDF Print E-mail
Written by Mark Ignatowski, Editor   
Wednesday, 03 March 2010 16:05
City, town and village officials, as well as county board members, attended an informational meeting on the proposed changes to the county’s radio communication system on Wednesday, February 24, 2010.

Calumet County Sheriff Jerry Pagel, along with a panel of fire chiefs, sheriff’s officers, and other public safety officers presented information to the elected officials about the proposed FoxComm communications partnership between Calumet, Winnebago and Outagamie counties.
The take-home point from the presentations was that changes need to be made to the current system in order to comply with federal mandates, and that by simply meeting these mandates, the counties would not be able to provide adequate services to their residents. The panelists said that improvements need to be made in order to give safety workers the radio coverage and communication abilities they need.

“The ultimate goal is to provide public safety to the taxpayers. Winnebago County Sheriff Mike Brooks said. “We can’t do that if we can’t communicate.”

The Federal Communications Committee requires that public safety communications systems move to a narrowband system by 2013. According to the FCC, narrow banding refers to how a radio frequency is transmitted and how much bandwidth, or space, it takes up. Currently, radio frequencies use 25 kilohertz to broadcast. By 2013, the FCC’s  Phase I plan requires that frequencies broadcast at half that. Additionally, it is anticipated that by 2018 the FCC will require frequencies to be reduced to 6.25 kHz. Narrow-banded channels allow more channels to be used.

Captain Paul Rusch of the Calumet County Sheriff’s Department said that if the county only switches to a narrowband system without making other improvements, there will be a loss of coverage. Rusch said the system that was installed about 30 years ago was more than adequate at the time, but technology has changed that improvements need to be made.

According to Calumet County Sheriff’s Department Lt. Kelly Sippel, law enforcement workers and firefighters currently have problems using their portable radios inside buildings and in certain parts of the county.

“We live by our portables,” Sippel said. “That portable is our lifeline.”

Many panelist said their officers and firemen have to resort to using cellular telephones to communicate with dispatchers when they are on a scene. Gene Reece, from the Appleton Fire Department, said the lack of communication during an emergency situation puts firefighter’s lives in danger.

During a recent fire, two firefighters fell through a hole in the building that was burning and one sent out a mayday call, Reece said. The call was only heard by the dispatcher and one firefighter operating the trucks. The dispatcher had to call back to the scene and alert the other firefighters of the mayday. The dispatcher was able to send more units to the scene to assist, however, only one of the firefighters was able to be saved.

Sheriff Brooks said thankfully that tragic events like this do not happen every day, but “every single shift we have a situation where we have a lack of radio communication.”

Because of these problems, an intergovernmental agency was formed in the year 2000 to study needs of 25 law enforcement agencies, 57 fire departments, 29 EMS districts and three 9-1-1 communication centers in Calumet, Outagamie and Winnebago counties. Over the next several years, the groups met and eventually agreed to pursue a 700 mHz trunked digital radio system. This system, FoxComm members said, would meet the users’ demands to get at least 95 percent in-building coverage and allow different user-groups to communicate with each other while on scene.

For example, a firefighters, emergency medical personal and police officers could all be in one workgroup at a scene. The workers could communicate with each other and the dispatcher. The calls would be recorded and could be reviewed after an incident.    

While some of the elected officials at the meeting were eager to move forward with the FoxComm project, many expressed resignation over the cost of the project and the ability to implement the new system.

Karen Carlson, FoxComm’s Management Information Coordinator, explained that the current budgetary estimates for the project put Calumet County’s shared costs at about $800,000. Additionally, approximately $4.8 million would be required to install seven new radio sites. Carlson said maintenance costs would be about 15 to 18 percent of  the total purchase cost, or between $840,000 and $1,008,000, each year.

Village of Hilbert administrator Dennis Duprey asked the FoxComm panelists how the county planned to pay for these expenses. Duprey said that different property tax levies start to add up and that many people are losing their jobs in Calumet County.

The FoxComm panelists recognized the financial implications of the project, but said the project is necessary to the public safety of the residents.

“FoxComm is very advantageous to Calumet County. It will cost more if we do it piece by piece,” Captain Rusch said. “Calumet County can’t afford the equipment without the help of other counties.”

Carlson said that the figures were only preliminary and the maintenance costs could be much lower, depending on the contracts made with equipment vendors.

Village of Hilbert president Ken Stenklyft asked if the new radios would work with departments who had mutual aid agreements with other municipalities not on the 700 mHz system. Carlson assured the elected officials that mutual aid requests to non-700 mHz departments would still work.

While most of the tower upgrades would be made at once, Carlson said departments could migrate to the new system in different phases. She said a fire department might only have a few of the new radios in order to communicate with the dispatcher and law enforcement and could slowly work in other new radios over time.

The FoxComm group is currently seeking bids from companies who will procure the equipment for the counties. FoxComm members asked for support from elected officials and taxpayers, hoping that they see the benefits of the new system.
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