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extent. These towers can also be used to expand other services such as internet, etc. There <br /> would be multiple uses for these towers. <br /> Commissioner Hemminger said that she is ok with this funding as a placeholder for now <br /> while they wait for the Emergency Services Work group recommendations. She wants to make <br /> sure that these are estimates and placeholders and not definitive things. She wants the work <br /> group to come back with recommendations. <br /> Commissioner McKee said that the points are well taken. <br /> Communication System Improvements: <br /> Paul Laughton went through the various improvements. There is an option of <br /> establishing County service districts as a way to pay for the radio replacements. This is on <br /> page 33. This project would also be reviewed by the work group. <br /> Commissioner McKee said that he has several issues with this project. He said that with <br /> 800 mHz radios, the fire departments currently provide funding and buy the radios out of their <br /> own budgets. He has a question regarding why the fire departments are looking after their own <br /> needs and now the County is suddenly taking over that particular part. <br /> Emergency Services Director Frank Montes de Oca said that either the County could <br /> purchase the radios or the departments could purchase their own radios with the specifications <br /> that match up with the radio system. Alamance County mandates the kind of radios that are <br /> bought so that they are compatible. His concern is that there are several departments <br /> managing their own radios and buying from different manufacturers, and there may be a <br /> compatibility issue. <br /> Commissioner Foushee said that she is fine with an option being presented, but it just <br /> seemed to her that with decisions such as this, she would have thought that this was an issue <br /> that the work group would have been charged to review. <br /> Chair Pelissier said that does not necessarily have to be done through the County <br /> budget, but it can be an agreement that everyone makes. <br /> Commissioner McKee said that he is not aware of compatibility issues with departments' <br /> radios, but he will know all of this by tomorrow afternoon. <br /> Future Emergency Services Stations: <br /> The first year has $50,000 for planning and assessment for future locations. No <br /> locations have been determined at this point. This would be a charge to the work group for <br /> recommendations. Years three through five, there is a new station at $500,000 each for the <br /> land and construction. In years 6-10 there are two additional substations. This would be a total <br /> of four substations over the next ten years. <br /> Conservation Easements: <br /> Paul Laughton said that $250,000 a year is going to these from the General Fund <br /> starting in year two and continuing each year thereafter. <br /> Commissioner Jacobs said that when the Board did a bond in 2001, they were told by <br /> the Bond Attorney that they could not do conservation easements with bond money because <br /> there would be no public access. That is why it had to come from a different source. <br /> Eurosport Soccer Complex: <br /> Commissioner Jacobs said that this has been a very successful project as far as usage <br /> and it was put there for economic development purposes. <br /> Commissioner Yuhasz asked for a measure of the economic benefits of this. <br />