Madison County one step closer to 911 radio overhaul after agreeing to receive state funds

MARSHALL - Madison County first responders have expressed their dissatisfaction with the county's outdated public safety radio network for some time, but the county is now one step closer to overhauling its 911 radio network.

According to Caleb Dispenza, Madison County's emergency operations director, the county was awarded $224,148 by the 2023 PSAP Grant from the North Carolina 911 Board to address upgrades to the system.

"The purpose of the grant is to replace our current dispatch consoles with four Motorola MCC 7500E (IP) Dispatch consoles," Dispenza said. "Between the grant award funds and Madison County's existing 911 fund balance, the entire equipment cost of $467,637.94 will be covered without any Madison County general fund expenditure."

The Madison County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved entering into an agreement to receive the grant funding during its December meeting.

In the Board of Commissioners' November 2021 meeting, commissioners were briefed on an assessment of the county's public safety radio network performed by Mission Critical Partners, a public safety communications consulting firm.

In the county's Sept. 19 meeting, the board signed off on a Communications Improvement Plan presented by Dispenza. The improvement plans' objective is "to develop and implement a comprehensive public safety radio system that's reliable, cost-effective, interoperable and lasting."

During the Madison County Board of Commissioners' December meeting, Dispenza updated the commissioners on the improvement plan's progress.

Dispenza said the first aspect of the three-part plan is the simulcast existing VHF system, subscriber radio procurement - including upgrades to first responders' portable and mobile radios in their vehicles, as well as improvements to the dispatch consoles at the county Emergency Operations Center.

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Dispenza said EOC staff and radio community members are working on the details of the RFP, but "the detailed technical documents require an FCC licensing, VHF frequency coordination, tower collocation agreements, radio studies and much more."

As for the subscriber radio system, the EOC team is looking at grant opportunities to either subsidize or purchase radios.

"We are looking to try to find some outside money that might outfit either law enforcement, or first responders or EMS, or any combination of that," Dispenza said.

But Dispenza said the EOC Dispatch System Improvement Project was "the meat" of why the EOC team went before the board.

DIspenza said there would be costs to the 24/7 maintenance of the consoles, which the county EOC team currently pays for its current consoles.

There would also be a cost for the direct fiber link to the N.C. State Highway Patrol VIPER Corps in Newton, which would allow first responders to talk directly into an IP link to talk directly into a statewide network, rather than using radios.

"These maintenance and data line costs are approximately $42,000 per year total, which approximately $28,000 per year will be Madison County's obligations. The remaining $14,000 will be paid with 911 funds," Dispenza said. "There will be no general funds needed for the console maintenance in the current fiscal year, or the next fiscal year."

Timeline

Dispenza outlined a general overview of the phase plan for the system overhaul.

"The phase we're in right now is kind of the grant writing and the planning," he said. "Phase 2 would be ... the procurement process or the equipment. Phase 3 would be receiving the equipment and installation. Phase 4 would be final acceptance and testing. That would include training and cutover and all that."

The radio committee is composed of stakeholders from various agencies in the county that use the radio system, including law enforcement from Madison County Sheriff's Office and Mars Hill Police Department, fire departments and EMS, including Madison County 911 members.

"The radio committee comes from the people that actually use the radio system in Madison County," Dispenza said. "They serve as a steering committee for the overall project, as well as each individual part of that. So, we're seeking what we actually need - not just necessarily what one person or one group wants, but what's best for all the responders in the county."

Benefits of the VIPER system

Commissioner Jeremy Hensley asked Dispenza the benefits of the VIPER system compared to the county's current system.

"What we have now is the ModUcom system, and it's served Madison County well," Dispenza said. "Similar to the courthouse issues, it worked for its time. Now, it's old. The company has been bought and sold, and I believe gone through bankruptcy. It's very difficult to find replacement parts for it, and it's very difficult to find qualified technicians that are able to service it, whereas Motorola is the name brand in public safety radios.

"(With) this equipment, you can have a vendor locally. You can call a vendor from any state in the nation. They'll be able to work on that equipment, you'll be able to procure replacement parts on it. It's very much a standard system, whereas our ModUcom system, besides being old and in need of replacement, it's hard to even plan for because even if I wanted to replace certain parts on it, I'll probably have to go get used parts. That's not really the way you want to do critical infrastructure that needs to be 24/7/365 uptime."

BOC Chair Matt Wechtel said the Emergency Operations Center team would "basically be scavenging for parts" in this scenario.

"Much like our courthouse, as we just learned, this system is pretty much obsolete at this point, for the most part. It either is, or will be in the immediate future," Wechtel said.

Wechtel asked Dispenza how long the new Motorola system would be effective before the county would need to seek out another emergency communications plan.

"They have a service upgrade plan of five years. It's not necessarily we have to replace it in five years, but that's when you start looking at replacing it," Dispenza said. "Realistically, you can last much longer. There are going to be software upgrades on it, and it's going to be a modern system. Just depending on what changes there are, it could last much longer than five years. But, it will have to be maintained regularly, and that's part of the maintenance costs - the software and hardware upgrades. All that has a factor in it."

According to Dispenza, the county's current ModUcom system was last replaced in 2017.

"It's about five to six years old now, and that's about the life cycle for these types of systems," Dispenza said. "The Motorola system would be similar I think, but you don't every single part of it, necessarily. You replace maybe a software upgrade - which is considerably expensive for these types of things, and that's mostly what you're paying for, is the software. It's the software you're paying for. "

Board comments

Vice Chair Michael Garrison commended Dispenza for seeking out and acquiring the grant funding.

"It's good information, and I appreciate it," Garrison said. "It's good to see (the project is) moving forward."

According to board Attorney Donny Laws, in a few months, County Finance Director Kary Ledford will present the board a reimbursement resolution the county will need to adopt because the county will have to pay from general funds the money to purchase the new equipment.

"Then, we send in the paid receipts to the 911 Board and they reimburse us out of the grant," Laws said. "There are a ton of reporting requirements under these 911 grants that your finance office will have to send out. These grants are monitored more than most grants, and there actually have to be monthly reports that are sent in. So, there justn eeds to be coordination between Caleb (Dispenza) and Kary (Ledford)."

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Madison County one step closer to public safety radio system overhaul