Chippewa County dispatch board advances plans for new CAD and upgrades communications and backup power
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Summary
At its Oct. 28 meeting the Chippewa County Central Dispatch board discussed a decision on a new CAD system expected within a month, considered raising the surcharge to pay for it, and reviewed multiple communications and resilience upgrades including 800 MHz paging and a new full-building UPS.
The Chippewa County Central Dispatch Board of Directors discussed plans to select a new computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system and reviewed several communications and resilience upgrades at its Oct. 28, 2025 meeting.
Minutes state the board is working with the UP 911 Authority on the CAD selection and expects to make a final decision within about a month; staff cautioned that building out the system will be long and extensive. The board discussed potential funding for the purchase, including a possible surcharge increase over coming years to cover costs.
Members also reviewed progress on the 800 MHz migration and the pager project. The minutes record that Kinross has agreed to paging, and that 800 MHz radios were distributed to Sault Ste Marie Fire, Kinross, Bay Mills, Sugar Island, Dafter and Soo Township. The pager-project update in the minutes notes that Title III funding “has been passed by Senate and held up in House,” that staff are awaiting a private grant for additional radios, and that a TC grant was denied; roughly half the county currently has 800 MHz paging deployed and staff are working to move deployment eastward as funds allow.
Staff reported work on mobile CAD profiles for Mackinac County and Sault City agencies, indicating preparatory steps for field access to the new system.
The minutes record that a full-building uninterruptible power supply (UPS) has been completed and now provides the center about 3.5 hours of runtime, an upgrade described as improving readiness for winter storms, wind or ice events; the IT department was credited for completing the work. The phone system switch to PFN was also recorded as complete, with the minutes noting it yielded “large cost savings.”
Votes at a glance: the minutes record that the agenda, the Aug. 26, 2025 minutes and monthly expenditures were approved (motions made and supported as listed in the minutes). The 2026 schedule was also approved. Where individual tallies are not listed in the minutes, those items are described as approved or passed in the meeting record.
Why it matters: the combined technology and resilience upgrades affect emergency communications across Chippewa County and neighboring agencies and have budget implications for the dispatch center and participating jurisdictions.
The board scheduled its next meeting for Dec. 17, 2025 at 1600 at the Sault Ste Marie Police Department. The meeting minutes record the meeting was adjourned at 1535.