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County upgrades radio tower system with geo‑redundant 'brains' after generator failure disrupted communications
Summary
Facilities staff reported adding a redundant radio 'brain' at the Public Safety Building to prevent communications loss across county radio towers if the primary controller loses power; towers support sheriff and county fire radio networks.
Kenosha County facilities staff briefed supervisors on a project to add geo‑redundant control hardware for county radio towers after a generator failure interrupted communications.
The county operates multiple radio towers—two downtown, one at the Public Safety Building, one at Fleet Maintenance, one near Sixteenth Street/Green Bay Road, and one on Silver Lake—that support sheriff and county fire radio communications. Staff said the towers must be time‑synchronized so signals do not echo or interfere.
“What happened is we lost power here and the generator didn’t provide power to the brain,” a facilities presenter said. The solution is to install a second, redundant controller (described in committee discussion as a second “brain”) at the Public Safety Building so a failure at one site will not take down communications countywide.
Operations and oversight Staff said the Public Safety Building will host the redundant controller and that dispatch has consoles and backup dispatch capabilities there. Physical installation is handled by facilities, while emergency management and the sheriff’s department maintain and operate the towers after installation.
Why it matters: Redundancy reduces the risk that a single generator or controller failure will disrupt radio communications used by emergency responders.
Ending: Staff will proceed with the geo‑redundant upgrade and continue to coordinate with emergency management and dispatch operations.
