911 board OKs plan to purchase new public safety radio system
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette
Bardstown Police Chief Rick McCubbin reviews specifications for an updated communications system for the county’s emergency services. Click to enlarge.
Tuesday, July 9, 2013, 11 p.m. — The Nelson County E-911 Dispatch Board took another step Tuesday afternoon that will overhaul and upgrade the county’s public safety communications systems. The new communications system will improve communications county-wide and allow public safety agencies to eventually move to digital voice communications.
The board approved a purchase order of $189,355 for nine complete radio systems that will replace existing aging communications systems. The systems are known as “repeaters” because they listen for lower-power mobile and handheld radio signals on one frequency, and retransmit — or “repeat” them — on different frequency. Repeaters extend the range of mobile and handheld radios and insure public safety officials have countywide communications.
The board also agreed to request an extension of a line of credit from Nelson Fiscal Court to pay for the project. A $90,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security will also be applied to the project.
EMS Director Joe Prewitt also updated the board on a project to build a new antenna tower for public safety purposes. Prewitt said he has been in prelimary talks with Salt River Electric regarding a plan to lease space from land the utility owns in the Nelson County Industrial Park for the site of a 300-foot antenna tower. In exchange for a 99-year lease, Salt River would be allowed to have one antenna on the tower, with an option for additional small antennas that would help link is offices at some future time.
Prewitt told the board he was going to look at used towers that are available with the help of Concept Communications owner Arnold Koerber. Buying used tower sections in good condition offer substantial savings over buying new tower.
Josh Cammack discussed mapping issues with the E-911 Board at its July meeting Tuesday, July 9, 2013. Click to enlarge.
CITY UTILITIES PAGING ISSUE. When the recent bout of severe weather roared through Nelson County, the dispatch center had its hands full. An additional task dispatchers also had to juggle was taking calls for power and cable outages for the City of Bardstown. Currently, city utility customers call 911 to report an outage after hours and on weekends, and the dispatchers page the on-call utility employee. The board agreed to draft a letter to ask the City of Bardstown utilities to review how they handle after-hours and weekend service calls.
GIS MAPPING UPDATE. The board also discussed the need for updating and maintaining the GIS mapping information once Lexington-based MapSync with Josh Cammack, an employee of the City of Bardstown who has expertise in mapping software and updates.
Cammack explained how an address is entered into the mapping system, beginning with a single data point that later becomes a street address. In the discusion with the board, Cammack explained how important it is to keep mapping information updated. The board asked Cammack if he was interested in updating the dispatch board’s mapping as necessary; Cammack said he felt an interlocal agreement with the City of Bardstown to share his services was a better idea.
The board approved a motion to draft an interlocal agreement regarding the maintenance and updates of the dispatch center’s mapping system. The board also approved a motion directing the dispatch center director and board chairman to negotiate fees for mapping services with the City of Bardstown. The information will be discussed at the board’s August meeting.
UP NEXT. The E-911 Dispatch Board will next meet at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2013, in the training room at the Nelson County EMS station 1 building.
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