Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Carroll County discusses P25 radio upgrade and grant options; staff say grant likely covers fire/EMS only
Summary
County officials reviewed plans to upgrade dispatch and departmental radios to a P25 standard, estimated project costs after scoping were trimmed from roughly $500,000 to about $200,000–$270,000, and staff warned that federal grants likely cover only fire and emergency management equipment.
County officials reviewed a proposed upgrade to county radio systems on Nov. 25, discussing inventory, interoperability requirements and funding options.
Staff said they created a line-by-line breakdown of which entities require radios and noted existing radios that can be reprogrammed to the P25 standard; updating inventory and selectively purchasing new handsets were cited as cost-control measures. In one exchange a staff member characterized earlier estimates as high: "we initially looked at radio for long, and it was gonna be close to $500,000... once we cleaned it up, we're... roughly somewhere in that ballpark" (staff comments summarized during discussion).
On grant coverage, a staff speaker warned that the federal grant under consideration "only covers, like, fire department and emergency management," and that other county entities such as the road department would need alternate funding or reimbursement arrangements. Commissioners discussed reuse of newer sheriff and fire radios for county needs to save money and the need to budget for antennas and tower upgrades as separate costs.
Why it matters: Interoperable communications are important for emergency response coordination across county departments and with neighboring jurisdictions. Staff said they have been contacting tower users and will follow up with nonresponding organizations; the transition to a new tower configuration, they said, could be completed within one to two weeks after cutover depending on weather.
Next steps: Staff will continue vendor and grant work, follow up with entities that did not respond to tower-user notices, and refine final cost/timing for a future funding decision.
