Eastern Shore 9-1-1 director says new regional radio system is operating but coverage gaps remain

Jeff Flournoy, director for the Eastern Shore Regional 9-1-1 Center, updated the board on the January 2026 cutover to the L3 Harris regional radio system and described both benefits and ongoing challenges.

"After numerous years of planning, cut over to using the new L3 Harris Regional Radio System occurred for fire, EMS, and law enforcement in January 2026," Flournoy said, and noted the county has used the system roughly six months. He told the board the total implementation cost was "just over $10,000,000," funded by a combination of federal grants (including Department of Justice and Department of Agriculture awards), local funds from Accomack and Northampton counties, the regional 9-1-1 commission fund balance, and contributions from agencies purchasing equipment.

Flournoy said the system provides improved interoperability (allowing fire, EMS and law-enforcement talk groups to be shared across jurisdictions and enabling state police or other state agencies to operate on local channels when needed), but he acknowledged coverage challenges. "Several areas in our two counties have limited or marginal coverage using portable radios," Flournoy said, noting pager alerting inside some responder homes and buildings remains weak in places and that the team is pursuing distributed-antenna solutions and other mitigations.

Board members thanked Flournoy and staff for the implementation and pressed for continued improvements in pager and portable coverage; Flournoy said staff will continue targeted fixes and work with vendors and partner agencies to expand coverage where feasible.

Next steps: staff continue to address marginal coverage areas (including D.A.S. installations) and evaluate additional features of the new system.