Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Planning for radio upgrade starts

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2003 16:18:03 -0400

Thursday, September 11, 2003

Planning for radio upgrade starts

By JOSH BREWSTER
[email-masked]

The once far-fetched idea of providing St. Joseph area public- safety agencies
with the capability to interact directly with one another through a single radio
system soon will be a reality.

St. Joseph and Buchanan County officials met Wednesday with representatives from
the St. Paul, Minn.-based engineering firm GeoComm Inc. to officially begin the
process of upgrading the city and county public-safety communications system.
St. Joseph Police Chief Mike Hirter said the purpose of the meeting was to allow
both parties to introduce themselves and officially begin the planning phase of
the two-part project.

“This is a very necessary improvement,” he said. “I am anxious to get this process
going. Providing our city and county with an updated radio system is extremely
important.” GeoComm Inc. was hired to assess the needs of the city’s next radio
system and to serve as advisers in the bidding and purchasing of the system. Mr.
Hirter said such an addition is much needed and long overdue.

“In looking for a new system, we will accept nothing less than public-safety
communications coverage throughout the city,” Mr. Hirter said. “We want and need a
new, digital, state-of-the-art system that has interoperability throughout many
public safety agencies.” Mr. Hirter said the city is looking for a system that
will allow the police, fire, sheriff, Heartland Ambulance and the Drug Strike
Force to communicate with each other on the same radio.

“To keep in contact with agencies like the (St. Joseph) Fire Department and the
(Buchanan County) Sheriff’s Department we currently have to call them on a cell
phone,” he said. “The new system will allow us to do so much more. It will be much
more effective.”

On Aug. 18, the St. Joseph City Council passed a resolution for the city to enter
into a $75,000 contract with GeoComm Inc. for its services in designing the best
radio system for the city’s needs and the best company to build the system.
“Phase I is designed to assess our needs, and phase II is to find the right
company to build the new system,” Mr. Hirter said. “Basically, we tell them what
we are looking for and they decide what system is best for us and our needs. Then
they help us make sure we are getting what we paid for from the installer.”

Capt. Richard Wolfe, who is assigned to coordinate the project for the St. Joseph
police, said he expects the first phase to be completed sometime in January. The
second phase, set to begin upon the completion of the first, involves bidding the
project out and purchasing the radio equipment.

Mr. Hirter said that although the completion date for the entire project is
dependent upon the results of the needs assessment, he is hopeful that a new radio
system will be installed by the end of 2004.

http://www.stjoenews-press.com/Main.asp?SectionID=81&SubSectionID=272&ArticleID=44744

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