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Richland County radio project nears construction completion; officials raise subscriber-equipment funding questions
Summary
County staff said towers and shelters for a nine-site radio network are mostly built and that some base stations and channels are already approved; officials said a separate decision is needed on how any remaining project funds should support agency radios and ongoing maintenance.
Richland County leaders told the Public Safety Standing Committee on April 8 that construction of a nine-site county radio network is nearing completion and that work on state-compatible base stations and channel licensing is under way, but they said decisions are still needed on how to distribute leftover project funds for subscriber radios and long-term maintenance.
The county’s civil contractor has completed or nearly completed work on the majority of the six new-build sites and three lease-tower sites, committee members were told. Shelter interiors, electrical work and generator commissioning are in progress; tower erection and antenna/line work were expected to continue as weather permits. Committee members were told that some radio channels have already been approved and that the team is pursuing remaining FCC licensing and inter-county coordination.
Why it matters: the network will provide a modern interoperable backbone for public-safety radio communications across Richland County and improve connections to the state WISCOM system. Officials said parts of the system could be brought online and tested before every agency has new subscriber radios, which creates a timing and funding question for smaller departments.
Committee member Bob Frank asked for a migration plan and a list of subscribers that lack compatible equipment. Staff said there is no finalized migration plan yet but that they will prepare one outlining the order of implementation and rough timing. Officials also said they will inventory agencies’ current radios to identify gaps.
A separate but related grant application—Round 2 of a 2024–25 program to buy upgraded WISCOM-compatible base stations—was reported as submitted; the speaker said the requested amount dropped to about $36,000 with a 10% local match after a vendor-quote revision. The county also has PSAP/NG9-1-1 and EMPG funds in hand for other communications work.
Committee members raised two policy questions the group will address at a future meeting: whether the county should (1) fund subscriber equipment directly as a grant with local match requirements, with priority rules for agencies; or (2) acquire a county-owned pool of radios (mobiles/portables) for lease or lending to agencies, with centralized programming and maintenance. Officials said some contingency funds remain in the project budget and that they will bring options and proposed criteria for distributing any available money to the next meeting.
Funding and procurement steps are still to be decided. County staff said they will prepare an equipment-priority list, a draft migration plan and options for how subscriber-equipment funds could be allocated, and present those items for committee consideration and possible action at an upcoming meeting.
