Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Fire districts: Chiefs oppose communication system change

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 01 Feb 2003 12:28:01 -0500

Fire districts: Chiefs oppose communication system change

By Howard Yune, Staff Writer
The WorldLink.com
Charleston, Oregon

Fifteen firefighting agencies have joined together to oppose a
Coos County project to overhaul the communications system used by
area police, fire and public safety agencies.

Fire Chief Mick Sneddon of the Charleston Rural Fire Protection
District read a letter Wednesday night at a district board
meeting, protesting the county's planned $2.18 million upgrade of
its emergency broadcast system. The letter criticized the county
for not consulting local fire chiefs, described the equipment as
costly and inadequate for fire departments and questioned the lack
of a bidding process and the soundness of plans for financing the
upgrade.

Sneddon signed the letter in his role as chief of the Coos County
Fire Defense Board. The letter also was signed by Bandon Fire
District Chief Lanny Boston, president of the Southwestern Oregon
Fire Chiefs & Officers Association.

The letter bore the names of firefighting agencies on the Fire
Defense Board, including those in Bandon, Bridge, Charleston, Coos
Bay, Coquille, Dora-Sitkum, Fairview, Greenacres, Hauser,
Millington, Myrtle Point, North Bay, North Bend, Powers and
Sumner.

Sneddon said Friday he had hand-delivered the statement Jan. 8 to
county officials including Sheriff Andy Jackson and the three
county commissioners, as well as members of the county's legal
counsel. The reading of the letter Wednesday was its first public
airing, he added.

County commissioners unanimously approved the broadcast-system
upgrade Dec. 18 and signed a contract with Motorola to provide
equipment for a four-repeater, microwave transmission system. The
network is intended to replace the existing system, which is more
than 50 years old and considered obsolete because of high
maintenance costs and coverage gaps in remote areas.

"The current system is degrading by the day and month," said Lt.
Steve Nelson of the Coos County Sheriff's Office, the project
manager for the upgrade. "New parts are unavailable in most cases
and we have to find used parts whenever we can, because the
equipment isn't being made anymore. ... People don't realize the
danger of police not having the lifeline of communication."

Fire department transmissions on the new system will be carried on
one of three channels, with the other two reserved for police
communication.

But such a design can easily be overloaded with calls from
multiple agencies and will not serve firefighters' needs,
according to Sneddon.

"The cost is way too high for what we're getting," he said. "At
that price, we should get three or four channels -- each -- for
police and fire communications."

Sneddon added that Jackson promised fire district leaders input
into the system's design and rollout at a July 24 meeting of
county fire chiefs.

"He promised committee meetings and asked for the names of those
who would be on the committee," Sneddon said.

"After that, he never called to ask who the members were or to say
when meetings would be held. We were never notified of meetings in
advance."

Fire chiefs, in the letter, also protested the county's decision
to award the contract to Motorola without open bidding, saying the
company has not released details about the equipment designs,
declaring them proprietary property.

"Some of the chiefs have requested to see specifications and have
been refused copies of the proposal due to proprietary
information," the letter read.

"We realize this kind of information is protected under public
records disclosure laws. However, for our members to determine
compatibility of our systems with this new system, we must be able
to review these specifications."

But according to Nelson, the company was selected to supply the
equipment in order to ensure compatibility with existing Motorola
gear already used by county agencies.

"We want a totally integrated system, because a piecemeal system
would run the risk of breakdowns and incompatibilities," he said,
adding the firm already has a state purchasing contract, making a
bid process unnecessary.

Nelson said he had sent a letter to the Charleston Fire District
and the Fire Chiefs & Officers Association making the county's
case for the upgrade and outlining its functions.

Consulting only one vendor will add unneeded expense to the
network upgrade, said Boston.

"If you want to buy a Cadillac, do you go to one dealer for a
price or do you go to three dealers and compare?" he said.

The fire chiefs also objected to the county implementing the plan
without first securing grants and federal funding. Boston said he
called both Jackson and Commissioner John Griffith shortly after
the system's approval to ask them what the funding sources were.
(Commissioner Nikki Whitty said earlier this month the upgrade
would be funded by financing payments of about $271,000 over 10
years. The county is seeking financing bids that will allow it to
make pre-payments without penalty.)

"We asked about the funding mechanism," Boston said. "How do we
finance it over 10 years, and where's that revenue coming from?"

He questioned the wisdom of installing a new communications
network at a time when budget crises threaten to reduce the number
of public safety officers using it.

"If you don't have troopers in the field," said Boston, "what good
is a $2 million radio system?"

Southwestern Oregon Publishing Company - Coos Bay, OR
http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2003/01/25/news02.txt

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