Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Fire chiefs: Radio system priority

From: NEXTEL-1
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 2004 16:51:37 -0400

Fire chiefs: Radio system priority

JIM KINNEY , The Saratogian
07/14/2004

BALLSTON SPA -- Saratoga County's fire chiefs want the county to start
building a new countywide emergency radio system now, even if the
Adirondack Park Agency doesn't approve three new mountaintop towers
within the park.
'You've got to start someplace,' John Mazor, chairman of the county Fire
Advisory Board, said Tuesday at a meeting of the county's Public Safety
Committee. 'Then you combat the APA when you have to combat the APA.'

Edinburg Supervisor Jean Raymond took the discussion a step further,
wondering if the APA could order the county to remove the towers once
they went up.

'That's something we have to look at,' Board Chairman Fred Acunto said.
'That would be heavy-duty litigation.'
Supervisors met Tuesday on short notice to discuss the county's radio
project and vent their frustration over recent events. Edinburg Fire
Chief Wayne Seelow couldn't make radio contact Sunday at the scene of a
fatal plane crash. He used his cousin's phone to get backup help from
dispatchers at the Sheriff's Office in Milton.

Saratoga County has been working since 1997 to replace its aging
emergency radio system with a new one. But the proposed $14 million
system needs three new radio towers atop mountains in Hadley, Day and
Edinburg. The APA, a zoning agency within the 11-million-acre park, has
repeatedly asked the county for more information concerning the plan.

County officials, especially Raymond, have said the APA is just
stringing the county along and purposefully not making a decision that
can be appealed in court in hopes the county will just go away.

'I think this whole thing is unconscionable,' Raymond said.
The APA has said it wants the county to explore other options that
wouldn't include mountaintop towers. The agency is also concerned about
the roads the county plans to build to access the towers and the small
shanties it plans to build at the base.
The APA has been against putting communication towers on mountaintops.

Greenfield Supervisor Robert Stokes said the county has spent $1 million
on engineers and attorneys fees, including $25,000 a month for the past
two months.

'And we're nowhere,' Stokes said.

Stokes fears the APA will continue to ask the county to reconsider other
options besides the three new towers. He showed letters from both firms
that have bid on the system. One, Motorola, says shorter towers simply
will not work.

The other firm, M/A Com of Albany, said it has a system that would work
with 40-foot antennae. But its plan would mean more backup antennae.
M/A Com also told the county it has never built such a system.

'We are not in the business of deploying untested technology for public
safety,' Stokes said. 'Satellite phones won't work, we've proven that.
Are we down to bonfires and messengers?'

The Saratoga County Fire Officers Association, Fire Advisory Board and
EMS Council are distributing pamphlets in support of the county's radio
project at the Saratoga County Fair this week. The fire chiefs are
asking people to write their town and city supervisors in support of the
project.
©The Saratogian 2004
http://www.saratogian.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=332155&BRD=69&PAG=F1&dept_id=708&rfi==6

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