The Baldwin County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a new Motorola contract to update countywide emergency radio equipment as well as buy new radios for public safety agencies during the May 16 meeting.
Assistant County Manager Dawn Hudson explained in that meeting, that the P25 Motorola Communication System and its radios have exceeded their average lifespan of 10 years. The radios were originally bought in 2011-12 and are reaching their expiration.
Conversations began with the account representative for Motorola Solutions, Parks McIntosh, last year to discuss a new contract. According to Hudson, 911 director Mandy Ptak, Sheriff Bill Massee, Fire Chief Victor Young, and EMA Director Wayne Johnson all worked with McIntosh to develop the contract and overall project.
“We asked for financing arrangements because we knew it would need to be something discussed early in the sales tax,” said Hudson at the meeting.
Hudson previously sent a summary of the contract to each commissioner and explained that Motorola offered three years of zero-percent financing if the county signed the contract by the end of June.
Massee, Young and other officials were present at the meeting to answer questions alongside McIntosh. Massee told the board that the meetings about the contract have gone well, and he feels that accepting the contract will be the best move to improve the system.
In response to Massee’s comments, Chairwoman Emily Davis asked McIntosh to discuss the benefits of the upgrades. McIntosh summarized upgrades by emphasizing the inclusion of a new Dynamic Duo mode, upgrades to current radios, additional radios for public safety agencies, and the upgraded capacity to eight channels on the current radio system.
In an interview with The Baldwin Bulletin, 911 director Ptak explained the benefits of the contract in more detail.
“The Motorola contract is allowing us to upgrade our current existing Motorola radio system and we are upgrading the system to one, allow us more talk channels, and two, to enhance data,” said Ptak.
The Public Safety Radio System, a 7800 megahertz digital system, will be upgraded for emergency radio operations. Ptak stated the contract includes upgrades for Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office, Baldwin County Fire Rescue, Baldwin County 911, Baldwin County EMA, and the Milledgeville Police Department. Notably, Ptak explained that these upgrades will allow more interoperability between surrounding agencies and enhance data and safety.
“Upgrading talk channels gives us more gateways for people to be able to join our core, the brain of the system, which will allow other users to join into our core from within our county and bordering counties,” said Ptak. “The enhanced data will allow us to GPS track our users.
The radio itself will have GPS enabled capabilities and we will be able to see a map at the 911 center in case of emergencies.”
Currently, the mapping and GPS features work only inside of law enforcement vehicles. According to Ptak, the upgrades will ensure that location can be mapped during a chase, on-and-off-road to increase overall safety, whether for calling on backup or trying to locate an officer.
“For the law enforcement side, it is also providing more coverage on the system. The new system advancement called Smart Connect will allow law enforcement radios to run on LTE in the background. So, when they are out in the county, if the network drops, the radio will run off the AT&T First Net System to provide coverage back that the radio system cannot support currently without building a new site.”
According to Ptak, no equipment will be retired but rather upgraded including the current radio system, radio dispatch, individual radios, and more. In addition, Baldwin County Fire Rescue will be receiving new fire-rated radios.
“There is no concern for damage from heat regarding the new radios and it is more accessible for the fire department to use with their gloves and such,” said Ptak.
The estimated time of completion for the project is 12-14 months.