Milford radio upgrade nears installation; radios to support interoperability

The Milford board received an update that the town’s 2024 Motorola radio project is nearing the installation phase and that the vendor check has been signed, the director told the board May 15.

Ray, the department director, said the Motorola units will be programmed so two consoles use the same "code plug" allowing coverage of police and fire channels without repeatedly reprogramming equipment. "We're basically gonna have both of the Motorola radios programmed with the exact same code plug so you can run police and fire from either of the radios," Ray said. He added that portable radios at each station will continue to handle police radio traffic.

Ray described an operational plan for tone activation and redundancy: tones for fire pager activation will be sent as needed and desk or portable radios will be used to monitor and manage police and fire operations during an event. He said one programmed radio unit will be placed in the "H Bank" location to ensure interoperability channels are pre-tuned for incidents requiring cross-jurisdiction radio coordination.

The director reported that the captain has signed the vendor check and that the town is now arranging programming and operational details. He also flagged that later in the meeting there would be a separate line item about tariffs related to other procurements, but said that the Motorola contract was agreed to prior to the tariff developments and the vendor honored that price.

No formal vote or change to contract terms was recorded at the meeting; the board received the operational update and directed staff to continue coordination with the vendor and local fire and police stakeholders.