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Erie-area task force to take ownership of donated communications trailer, county to accept matching truck
Summary
Erie County Council discussed accepting a 2008 mobile communications trailer and a Ford F-550 truck donated through the NWPA Emergency Response Group; county staff said $68,000 in radio upgrades are being installed to bring gear current for a four-county task force.
Erie County Council members heard from a public safety official Thursday about a donated 2008 mobile communications trailer and a 2011 Ford F-550 truck that the Northwest Pennsylvania Emergency Response Group is transferring to the county.
The county’s public safety representative, Brian Maceras, said the trailer “is set up with radio equipment for our 4 county region task force, which is Erie, Crawford, Warren, and Forest Counties,” and that the task force is putting about $68,000 into updating radios to match systems used across the four counties.
Maceras said the donor truck — the F-550 — will give the county the vehicle capacity to tow the trailer and “will allow us to pull anything that we have if we get anything bigger in the future.” He added that the truck has been maintained by Mill Creek Township and that routine costs should be limited to “normal oil changes and PA state inspections.”
Council members asked who will maintain the radio equipment and how future costs will be allocated. Maceras said each county will maintain the equipment that serves its radio system and that Erie County’s 9-1-1 center would be responsible for maintenance of Erie-specific gear; inter-county maintenance agreements (MOU/MOA) will accompany the transfer.
Council discussion also clarified that the regional task force functions primarily as a funding pass-through for state homeland security grants and does not hold permanent title to equipment — when the task force buys equipment, ownership ultimately rests with a county or municipal agency. Maceras said Mill Creek Township had taken ownership when another county left the task force region, and Erie County used the trailer frequently during radio tower work at Northeast Marina.
No formal vote or motion was recorded on the transfer during the discussion captured in the transcript; council members indicated they would “move forward” with the item.
