Duct tape and bailing wire

Carbon County commissioners discussed how communication among the county’s first responders could be improved but are still trying to figure out how to pay for a proposed $1.4 million communications upgrade.

The equipment currently used by county fire, sheriff’s office and road and bridge personnel to communicate is “archaic,” according to Carbon County Fire Warden John Rutherford, who discussed possible improvements at the Feb. 15 meeting of the Board of Carbon County Commissioners.

The communications equipment now in place on the county’s mountaintop sites is no longer supported, he said. In addition, some towers serve only county fire responders, some serve only sheriff’s offices, and some only the Road and Bridge Department, he said.

“Road and Bridge is probably the one that has the most amount of holes in the coverage area,” he said. “I personally think if you’re out there in a (plow) blade and you can’t talk to somebody, that is a significant safety issue, especially in the conditions that they’re operating in, so getting them up to speed to the rest of us is very, very important.”

Rutherford outlined the objectives of the project: to improve communication between county first responders; to better link county and city dispatch centers; to improve coverage areas; and to update hardware and equipment that is not already obsolete.

“We need to get to the point where all the equipment we’re operating is still supported by the manufacturer,” he said. “The way some manufacturers do theirs is modular. So if you lose a power supply, you pull the power supply out, (replace it), and it’s up and operating. Others are not modular design; the whole unit has to be repaired. That’s why we’re talking to Zetron specifically.”

Zetron, a communications technology company, spent six months researching the county’s communication needs and has put together a plan for a new system, Rutherford said in introducing Rick Felt, Zetron’s Western Regional Sales Manager.

According to Felt, the proposed $1.4 million communications system would rely on a process called “voting” in which a signal is broadcast on multiple channels so the user gets the best possible signal.

The cost would also include a three-day training session for first responders, module replacement, programming and microwave installation. There would be no monthly fee or ongoing cost to the county after the initial purchase.

Felt suggested several ways the county could fund a new Zetron communications system, including buying it outright or leasing it at a low-interest rate.

Rutherford spoke in favor of the company’s modular approach to design and installation.

“Rather than redesigning the entire unit, which other manufacturers do, they take units and refurbish them,” he said. “(Zetron) supports them longer for us, and that is a big deal. It disturbing to me that every 10 years you have to replace this hardware — that is a significant amount of money. Zetron uses same parts, enclosures and refurbishes them.”

Rutherford and Felt both suggested the project could be completed in phases.

“If we could fill the voids and get the hardware so it’s all still supported and all alike, that could be one phase,” said Rutherford. “Then move to the microwave section another time, but keep in mind that with that alternative (phasing in), time goes by and the price goes up.”

He noted some of the hardware used in the county’s remote sites is practically obsolete.

“Some of the hardware we have is no longer supported; literally, we’re buying power supplies from eBay to keep this stuff going,” Rutherford said.

Commissioner Travis Moore noted that in previous discussions about replacing pieces of the county’s communication system one by one, some board members expressed concern that at about the same time all the equipment was replaced, the county would have to start the process over again.

He compared the approach to “putting a little duct tape and baling wire here, there and everywhere as opposed to improving the system on the whole to make it better maintained.”

Chairman John Johnson said he’d prefer purchasing the system as a whole.

“In a perfect world, rather than phase it out, it’s better to do it,” he said. “You can’t put a price on safety. . . . The step I am missing is the plan to pay for it.”

Emergency Management Coordinator Lenny Layman cautioned the board to take a broader look at what is necessary for a new communications system to succeed.

“Keep in mind that it’s a huge project — $1.4 million — and the things we need to hold (Felt) and the team to . . . are the pieces that have the possibility to make this whole thing fail,” he said.

Layman explained that if radios are not programmed correctly, not serviced properly or are obsolete — or if the system’s end users are not adequately trained, the failure of the system will point back to the infrastructure.

“I would have the board look at this project as bigger than just the infrastructure,” he said, adding that the board also needs to consider the ownership and 100-year leases of the communications towers and how the system will be serviced.

Rutherford noted the county will soon begin discussing the next fiscal year’s budget.

“This is something we can certainly plug into our budget discussion,” he said. “We’ll look at some grants and figure out the funding.”

Johnson requested the communications project team gather information on potential funding options and report back to the board.

The next meeting of the Board of Carbon County Commissioners will be at 9 a.m. on March 1 at the Carbon Building - Courthouse Annex in Rawlins.