Agenda - 11-06-2014 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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10 1 are in bad shape. He said what is really needed is a second small training facility with a burn 2 facility and a rescue tower on one or two acres, somewhere north of 1 -85. 3 He said a small training center would cost a half million to a million dollars, not counting 4 the cost of land. He said there has also been discussion of a regional training center for 5 specialized training. 6 7 Commissioner Dorosin said the Board is considering a bond, and maybe this could fit 8 into that. 9 Commissioner McKee said there was discussion about property in the Schley area and 10 the possible use of part of that parcel as a training facility. He said this might be worth a re- 11 look. 12 13 3. Open Discussion 14 15 a) VIPER Radio System 16 Jim Groves said there was a recent meeting to talk about the Voice Interoperability Plan 17 for Emergency Responders (VIPER). He said it is the state 800 MHz system that is currently in 18 place, and it is falling short of meeting everyone's needs. 19 Pete Hallenbeck said when looking at radio coverage you want to know the coverage, 20 the capacity for communication, and the redundancy, or what happens when things fail. 21 Jim Groves said this current system was built as a NC Highway Patrol radio system, 22 used in the center of a roadway while sitting in a vehicle. He said the coverage is lacking in 23 situations where you are inside a building or chasing someone. 24 Jim Groves said years ago the system was stable, but now the state has added 25 additional counties, and it has reduced the capacity. 26 He said earlier this year there was an outage of VIPER that took the entire state down. 27 He said this caused the County to scramble, and it showed that there is no redundancy built 28 into the system. 29 Dan Jones said the state sold them a bill of goods with this system in an effort to get the 30 federal funds needed by creating the required interoperability. He said the state convinced the 31 counties that this would solve their radio problems. He said it is an excellent system for the 32 highway patrol because they do not go inside buildings or use portable radios very much. He 33 said the system follows the interstate and highways, and it has many limitations that were not 34 fully explained. He said it doesn't work for local agencies, fire departments and EMS. He said it 35 leaves firefighters, police officers and emergency workers in a structure with no radio contact 36 with the outside. 37 Dan Jones said the County, departments and cities have spent a lot of money buying 38 800 MHz radios for a system that does not work very well. He said it is now time to replace the 39 radios and this a good time to do something new. He said there are a lot of other options, 40 including 700 MHz systems, or going back to UHF or VHF. 41 He said a lot of money could be spent to build more towers on the 800 MHz system, but 42 he has come to the conclusion that pouring additional money into supporting the statewide 43 VIPER system does very little for the County. It only bolsters the state system, and if money is 44 going to be spent it should have local benefit. 45 Dan Jones said another limit of the VIPER system is that it will not allow any of the 46 public works departments on the radio system, which requires there to be two separate radio 47 systems. He said in an emergency, there is a need for communications with these public works 48 departments. He said the timing is now to look at what is the best option to meet these local 49 needs.