Subject: [NEXTEL-1] McLean County receives $2.2 million grant for upgrade

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 08:11:16 -0400

McLean County receives $2.2 million
grant for upgrade
September 26, 2003

By BRANDON COUTRE
of the Journal Star
BLOOMINGTON - McLean County will receive $2.2 million from the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security to upgrade its cumbersome emergency communications system.

The grant will provide 400 radios and 700 pagers for police and fire departments
in Bloomington-Normal and rural parts of the county.
Under the new system, police, fire and emergency medical service personnel will be
able to communicate with each other and the Illinois State Police, which already
uses the new system.

"The Department of Homeland Security really emphasized the need for a wide range
of public safety agencies to be able to talk with each other," McLean County
Administrator John Zeunik said Thursday.

The Department of Homeland Security provided a total of $79.6 million in grants
across the nation Thursday to help communities develop interoperable communication
systems.
The new digital system is expected to be up within a year and will replace the
current 800 MHz analog system that has had poor audio quality and reception since
its instillation in 1996. In some rural parts of the county, there is no coverage
at all, Zeunik said.

"We will now have a system that provides excellent audio quality and that also
provides complete coverage of the county," Zeunik said.

McLean County received part of a total $6 million grant that is being shared with
St. Clair County near St.  Louis. The $730,000 McLean County needs to supplement
the grant has already been allocated, Zeunik said.

"We were certainly hoping we would be successful because Illinois has been ranked
as one of the top three states in terms of work already done in Homeland
Security," Zeunik said. "Our grant allows us to communicate with the entire state
of Illinois in the Interstate-55 corridor - from Chicago to St. Louis."

Seven consoles that serve as control centers for the
radios will also be installed at MetCom, the countywide
dispatch system.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030926/phf038_1.html
--
    "NEXTEL-1 IT'S NOT JUST NEXTEL"
  Note The New address
Subscribe to Nextel-1: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/NEXTEL-1

  "NEXTEL2 FOR iDEN SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS"
Subscribe to Nextel2: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/NEXTEL2

  "WIRELESS FORUM HOMELAND SECURITY GROUP"
     The Complete Resource for Wireless Homeland Security.
Subscribe to WFHSG:  http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/WFHSG

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark
Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada.
http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511
http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/61FxlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/