Madison's 911 call center nearing Phase 2 of radio system overhaul; 95% coverage touted
MARSHALL - Madison County first responders and county management alike have for years decried the county's emergency radio system network, with one longtime fire chief calling the network "about the sorriest in the country."
But in the Madison County Board of Commissioners Nov. 14 meeting, county management revealed Madison is one step closer to completing its revamping of the outdated network.
Madison County 911 Director Chris Alquiza appeared before the board and said the county is roughly two weeks away from completing Phase 1 of the overhaul.
In 2022, the county was awarded $224,148 by the 2023 PSAP Grant from the North Carolina 911 Board to address upgrades to its 911 radio network.
The grant will help to pay for four Motorola MCC 7500E (IP) Dispatch consoles.
According to Alquiza, Madison County 911 staff began training on the consoles on Nov. 15, and will implement the new system on Dec. 1.
From there, the county will embark on Phase 2 of the system overhaul, which Alquiza referred to as "the big one."
In this phase, the county will determine which of two vendors it will enter into an agreement with to serve the county's VHF simulcast network.
In November 2021, officials with the county-contracted Mission Critical Partners, a public safety communications consulting firm, revealed the findings of the company's assessment of the county's public safety radio network.
According to Tim Hennemann, a senior technology specialist with Mission Critical, the purpose of the project was to assess the county's then-current VHF (Very High Frequency) system compared to public safety standards.
"We did find that coverage throughout the county is fairly poor today," Hennemann said in the November 2021 meeting. "There are a few reasons for that. The biggest reason is that the current system is located in the Very High Frequency — or VHF, for short — spectrum. VHF is a pretty old frequency band. It's got a lot of noise, which effectively reduces the coverage for the system."
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In response, in September 2022, the county agreed to allocate $1 million of its more than $2 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to the simulcast VHF system.
Now, with the new consoles in place, the county's next decision was to choose between Motorola and Zetron. According to Alquiza, a team of five 911 call center representatives are determining which of the two vendors is the best choice to enter into a contract.
"Currently we are on weekly calls with Zetron, which are taking one member every week and discussing our propagation studies and what's the best course of action for the county," Alquiza said. "Motorola is the other company we're going with. They're still currently working on our consoles, so they're a little delayed, and they were project managers for this project. So hopefully they'll be able to get onto the bigger phase in Phase 2."
Alquiza laid out to the commissioners the reasons why the county was working with the two vendors.
"First, Zetron, is their product range and application," Alquiza said. "They're known for their ability to customize and integrate into our already existing radio system. So, all the radios that our fire departments, EMS, and sheriff's (office) use, they'll just integrate right into that."
Zetron's user interface and accessibility were two additional reasons why the county 911 call center team has joined forces with the vendor, Alquiza said.
As for Motorola, Alquiza listed the vendor's market presence and reliability as the two main reasons for working with the vendor.
"We all know Motorola. We all know they make a darn good product," he said. "They're always on the cutting edge of any advance in technology and innovation. Network and system security is a big plus that they offer, except for our law enforcement partners. Then, the customer support and service network is pretty vast."
According to Alquiza, the radio committee comprises members from local fire departments and law enforcement agencies, as well as first responders.
At the top of the five-member committee's considerations for choosing a vendor was economic efficiency.
"We want to make sure we're getting the most bang for our buck for this project," Alquiza said. "Compatibility with our existing systems. Making sure that we're not making these fire departments, law enforcement and EMS spend lots of money out of their own budget to upgrades. We want to make sure that we have something that's compatible to what they have."
Scalability was another important factor in the committee's deliberations, according to Alquiza.
"This county's growing," the 911 call center director said. "We want to make sure that this system grows with us."
Deliberations
Madison Board of Commissioners Vice Chair Michael Garrison asked Alquiza how far along the radio committee was in ascertaining what type of system was needed.
"The consensus is, at least for the system itself, is going through a simulcast system, where at the back end, our fire departments just hit a button and it talks to dispatch — you don't have to worry about changing channels or anything of that," Alquiza said. "That's the consensus of the group right now, it's just these two companies have varying ideas on how we're going to implement that system, and what that cost is going to be, and what the equipment is going to be.
"Fire departments, EMS, law enforcement, they just click the button and they don't have to worry if they're in Big Pine, or if they're in Ebbs Chapel district, doesn't matter. They just hit the button and they get dispatch," Alquiza said. "They don't have to worry about changing towers and all that like they do now."
Garrison also asked Alquiza about tower locations/collocations.
"With this VHF simulcast system, the five towers that we currently have will be sufficient," Alquiza said, adding that the most recent readings revealed a 95% coverage rating.
"For this county, that's really good," said Garrison, the former Mars Hill Police Department chief.
Board of Commissioners Chair Matt Wechtel questioned Alquiza about how to address establishing coverage in the other 5% of the map in which coverage was lagging.
"The areas that are showing in that 5% are parts of the Appalachian Trail, and then there's one section out towards Sandy Mush area where there is no residential housing or anything like that," Alquiza said. "These companies offer mobile repeaters where we can get a 5- to 6-mile radius on top of that. So, we can take a mobile unit out and temporarily extend communications if we have to."
Both Motorola and Zetron will have unique advantages, according to the 911 call center director, but the committee's focus is on ascertaining which vendor will be best for Madison County's specific infrastructure.
"Each of these systems of vendors is going to have its own strength," Alquiza said. "The radio committee is going to work diligently to pick the right vendor for what our needs are, and ensuring that Madison County has the correct radio infrastructure to set us right for the next decade."
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Madison's 911 call center nearing Phase 2 of radio system overhaul
