By Anne Danahy
Centre Daily Times (Pennsylvania)
Copyright 2007 Centre Daily Times
BELLEFONTE, Pa. — Centre County is hiring an engineering firm to study the county’s problem-stricken emergency communications system and make recommendations for improving or replacing it.
The Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to approve a $45,592 contract with L. Robert Kimball & Associates, of State College, that runs through Feb. 2.
Dan Tancibok, director of the county’s Emergency Communications Office, said Kimball will evaluate the current radio system, meet with those affected by it, evaluate the technology available on the market and make recommendations to the county. He said the process will include discussions with firefighters, police officers and emergency medical service workers.
“The current system is 10 years old, and it’s going to have to be replaced at some point in the future,” Tancibok said.
He said it’s critical the county have a plan in place for where it wants to go and how it wants to get there. The cost of upgrading could be $10 million to $15 million.
The county’s 911 emergency communications has been experiencing dropped and garbled calls between the dispatch center and stations all year. In a separate problem, on Aug. 29 emergency communications couldn’t page firefighters overnight. The problems have not affected emergency 911 calls.
Commissioner Chris Exarchos said the county has to improve the system.
“I don’t see what the choices are. This system isn’t going to last forever,” he said. “It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when.”
He said the question is how to find a way to do it without putting too much of a burden on taxpayers.
Tancibok said his office has been moving to a “next generation 911" system based on IP — Internet protocol — technology. But, he said, the department’s radio system is still an older analog system, so the first goal will be switching to a digital IP-based system.
He said the question of whether all stations in the county should upgrade will be part of the recommendations Kimball develops for the Board of Commissioners.
When the county switched to its current system 10 years ago, Tancibok said, the county paid for fire and EMS stations to make the change, too.
He said a digital IP system eventually will mean better communications across county lines as other areas change systems.
But, Tancibok said, replacing the system is at least two years away. In the meantime, the county hopes to fix its problem with garbled and dropped calls. The county hired Motorola in August to find the cause, and preliminary results have identified a problem and are now being tested.