Subject: [NEXTEL-1] GENESEE COUNTY, Mi. New $11.1-million 911 system approved

From: NEXTEL-1
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 2004 15:47:01 -0400

New $11.1-million 911 system approved GENESEE COUNTY
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Saturday, July 17, 2004

By Ken Palmer

[email-masked] ; 810.766.6313
The Clio Area Fire Deportment covers 72
square miles of mostly rural real estate in
north-central Genesee County.

But radio transmissions from firefighters in the field sometimes can't
be heard from just a few miles away because the network is inadequate,
Clio Fire Chief James Bronson said.

Until a new tower went up at Clio and Vienna roads, Bronson said, even
his pager didn't always pick up calls.
"(Radio) communication is absolutely terrible," Bronson said. "I could
get a string and tin can and probably do better."
Something a little more hi-tech is finally on the way.

After a decade of planning, the county's 911 consortium this week sealed
an agreement to build an $11.1-million radio system linking local police
and fire agencies to a statewide radio network.

That means Motorola, the chief contractor on the project, has 18 months
to make the 800 MHz system operational, officials said.
The new system will greatly improve communications among the county's 31
police agencies and 32 fire stations, making their jobs safer and
cutting emergency response time, officials said.

"This is a wonderful day," Montrose Township Supervisor Don Papineau,
who chairs the 911 consortium, said Friday.
"It's been such a long time coming, but not for lack of trying," said
Lloyd Fayling, the county's central dispatch director, who coordinated
the project. "I'm thankful we're at where we are now."

The basic system, including three new radio towers, should be in place
within a year and the system operational by fall 2005, Fayling said.

The county will fund 60 percent of the project with telephone surcharges
collected over the past eight years. Local communities will pay the
other 40 percent.

Local governments got a big boost when the county board last month
agreed to allocate a big chunk of the $2 million the county expects to
receive for homeland security to the 800 MHz system.

Officials agreed to apply about $841,000 of the federal grant to local
communities' share of the project -- about 40 percent of their tab,
Fayling said. The cost to each community will depend on how many radios
they need to buy.

The Clio fire department, run by a consortium that includes the city of
Clio and Vienna and Thetford townships, is on the hook for about
$69,000, Bronson said. All but 10 percent of that total, however, will
be covered by a grant from the Federal Emergency Management
Administration, he said.

"I'm tickled pink to be paying $7,000, instead of $70,000," he said.

The project has been delayed by technical problems, political squabbles
and sometimes difficult lease negotiations. The county recently ditched
plans to build a new tower in Atlas Township because of opposition by
residents and instead will lease space on a tower owned by the
University of Michigan's television station.

The total cost includes about $10.1 million to Motorola and slightly
more than $1 million to another contractor that will build the microwave
system that allows the towers to talk to each other, Fayling said.

© 2004 Flint Journal.
http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/news-22/109007416673550.xml

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