The Kanawha County Commission voted Thursday evening to begin funding an overhaul of the county’s emergency radio network.
The project, installed by Zetron, will cost just over $3 million. The first payment of $300,000 will come from unallocated money in the Public Safety Fund.
At future meetings, the commission will discuss how to fund further payments. The next payment, $1.3 million, will be due when equipment is delivered this fall.
The new system, which will take 18 months to two years to fully implement, is a microwave system. Dave Armstrong, county deputy fire coordinator, described it as using beams that transmit signals in a straight line through the air.
The new system will reach all county towers so emergency personnel in the field can use whatever tower they are closest to. Under the current system, emergency responders must manually switch their radios to receive signals from whatever tower they were closest to.
The upgrade will make the entire system more reliable and expand coverage. The county currently uses six towers for dispatch. Two more already-built towers will be equipped with the new technology.
The current system was installed in the 1970s and is used by the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office, the Kanawha County Ambulance Authority and volunteer fire departments. Sheriff Mike Rutherford joined the department in 1975. He said this upgrade, which he called “a tremendous plus for all,†is the most significant in all the time he’s been at the department.
At an October meeting, Armstrong said while the new system won’t provide coverage to 100% of the county, it will “dramatically increase†coverage.
“It is difficult terrain with the hollows and the hills and so forth, but this should dramatically make a big difference as far as reception and transmission,†Rutherford said.
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Other business
Also Tuesday night, the commission provided funding for:
- , Humphrey’s United Methodist Church in Tornado
- The wrestling and football teams at Capital High School
- Sissonville Elementary School to replace an electronic sign
In addition to the funding requests, commissioners elected Lance Wheeler as County Commission president, replacing Kent Carper, who had been president for the past 20 years. Carper, who has been on the commission since 1996, hasn’t decided whether he will seek reelection.
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