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Consultant presents $9.6 million plan to upgrade Fannin County public-safety radio network
Summary
Atisa Consulting presented to the Fannin County Board of Commissioners a plan to bring the county's radio system to public-safety standards, citing coverage gaps, tower vulnerabilities and a preliminary capital estimate of about $9.6 million plus roughly $5.4 million in infrastructure costs.
Atisa Consulting representative Dean Hart told the Fannin County Board of Commissioners the county's public-safety radio system falls short of industry reliability standards and would require a multi-site upgrade to reach "five nines" uptime.
"Public safety built on what we call 5 nines, 99.999% uptime," Hart said, explaining that 5 nines corresponds to roughly 5.26 minutes of allowable downtime per year. He said the current system relies heavily on a single site at Crowley Mountain and that portable and in-building coverage drop sharply compared with mobile coverage.
Hart presented modeled coverage figures showing high mobile coverage in some towns but portable coverage countywide ranging roughly from 50% to 71% and in-building coverage in some areas as low as about 23%. He said those shortfalls are driven by tower siting and infrastructure limits as much as by radio equipment.
The consultant emphasized infrastructure needs: tower structural capacity, grounding, site accessibility, redundant power and backhaul. "Most of those towers would not handle a modern day communications," Hart said, recommending structural engineering reviews before adding antennas or microwave links.
Hart gave a preliminary cost picture for a simulcast, multi-site design that would include site-on-wheels and technology upgrades: about $9,600,000 in capital costs overall, with technology components near $2.4 million, microwave about $1.6 million and infrastructure estimated at more than $5,000,000.
He framed the investment as long-term infrastructure: "When you invest in a new tower or you invest in a shelter, you're looking at 50 year infrastructure," Hart said, and noted the county could consider leasing versus owning towers depending on an operational or capital model.
Commissioners pressed on cost, nearby jurisdictions using similar designs, and tower capacity. Hart identified nearby counties with comparable work and reiterated technical and governance recommendations but the transcript records no formal vote to proceed with procurement; commissioners signaled they were "ready to move forward" pending final closing details and additional work to finalize a contract and timeline.
The presentation closes with the consultant urging further evaluation of tower structures, resiliency measures and funding options before committing to construction or equipment purchases.
