Erie County Council postpones vote on $65,190 public safety radio study

Source: Erie Times-News, Pa.存倉Aug. 15--Erie County Council wants to ask more questions -- and receive more answers -- about a $65,190 study of a proposed new multimillion-dollar, state-of-the-art countywide radio network.Council on Tuesday night tabled an ordinance that would have set money aside for the study.Several council members said they wanted to know more about how the radio system would work and what local emergency responders think about the project.Known as a "next generation" radio system, the new network would allow local emergency responders to communicate on common frequencies and replace the fragmented system they now use.Todd Geers, the county's public safety director, has said the system could cost as much as $20 million and take several years to implement.Councilman Kyle Foust said he was not comfortable voting on the ordinance because he wants to know more about the long-term impact of such a radio system.Erie County's emergency workers currently use separate frequencies to hear dispatched calls and to talk to their colleagues over the radio.Splintered radio communications have been a major issue for many public safety workers nationwide for decades.Foust said he understands that local emergency responders have had such problems for years. "The next month 自存倉sn't going to make any difference" if council wants to study the issue further, Foust said.Councilman Edward T. DiMattio Jr. said that since 2001, "by my count there's been five studies done in the county telling us what to do about the radios. Nothing was ever done. Why would we spend this kind of money again if we don't implement things?"Council Chairman Joseph Giles said the panel might schedule a special meeting in the next few weeks to discuss both the radio study and the county's possible participation in a regional 911 network.County Council on Tuesday also tabled an ordinance that would have set aside $464,420 for the Northern Tier Telecommunications Project, which involves multiple counties and features new telephone equipment, information-sharing technology and an Internet-based fiber optic network.Geers has been pushing for the both projects, and has told County Council that a consultant would determine the best and most cost-effective way to implement the new radio system."They are the experts," Geers said.KEVIN FLOWERS can be reached at 870-1693 or by e-mail. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNflowers.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Erie Times-News (Erie, Pa.) Visit the Erie Times-News (Erie, Pa.) at .GoErie.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉新蒲崗