Commission approves $5.36 million radio-system upgrade to improve first-responder redundancy and location features

The Rowan County Commission authorized a $5,364,138.60 turnkey upgrade to the county’s public-safety radio backbone at its March 16 meeting, approving the county manager’s execution of the statement of work, a budget amendment and a capital-projects ordinance.

TJ, identified in the meeting as the county’s emergency-services official, described the upgrade as improvements to the microwave links that carry radio traffic between towers and said the project will create redundancy so transmissions will not rely on a single path. The change also adds automatic-location (AVL) capabilities so the 9-1-1 center and dispatch can see the approximate location of a transmitting portable radio to help responders find officers, firefighters or EMS personnel who are mobile or off-road.

TJ said the county purchased radios with AVL enabled and has not seen prohibitive battery-life issues with currently specified batteries; the project budget includes hardware, installation and system work to create the looped transmissions and redundancy. "One of the major improvements in this system will allow the transmissions to be in a loop," TJ said. "It doesn't have to get as long as there's another tower; you don't have that single path of failure."

The board voted to authorize the county manager to sign the statement of work and approved the requested budget amendment, moving funds previously earmarked for other debt and delaying an EMS-station debt payment for one year to cover the project balance. The agenda item included supporting documents and a statement that the project would be turnkey at the stated price.

What’s next: Staff will execute the statement of work and proceed with procurement and installation steps under the approved capital project; commissioners were told they will return to the board with implementation timelines and testing schedules.