Tower sites get approval
Sites in Taylorsville, Rockmart given thumbs up, along with agreements with Bartow and Cobb linking to regional system
A new radio communication system for public safety is moving along to the next step in the process and will likely commit the Polk County Commission to a special called session later this month as they firm up sites for new radio towers across the county.
Unanimous votes from commissioners passed six different agreements for the new APCO (Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials) standard P25 mission critical public safety communications system.
Three tower sites agreements were approved by the board for local use, plus an agreement with Bartow County to setup a repeater tower site that’ll connect with the Cobb County radio system core as part of a larger regional network.
Commissioners also approved the agreement with Cobb County to become part of the core. It comes at no cost to the county for that part of the network.
the agreement with Cobb County to become part of the core. It comes at no cost to the county for that part of the network.
The tower sites include one already agreed upon by the Polk County Water Authority in a special called session they had before the Thanksgiving holiday week. They approved the county to use a portion of property they use in the Taylorsville area.
A second tower site will go up near the City of Rockmart’s water tower as well. That antenna will not be attached to the water tower itself, but to a self-supporting monopole that will get the radio antenna to the correct height for better coverage, County Manager Matt Denton explained after Commissioner Scotty Tillery sought more information on this scope of the project.
Previously the county’s radio system did utilize the water tower with an antenna on top.
“There is limited space on top of the mountain, and they don’t have room up there for a self-supporting tower,” Denton said. “This will get them up to the elevation they need.”
A third site was also approved for the Rocky Hollow Road area near the Georgia-Alabama state lines. That agreement was made with Value Concepts, and will provide a completely new tower site for the county’s radio system.
When the county installs the radio system, they won’t have a direct line of sight for microwave communications between Cobb and Polk due to the terrain between the two areas. A tower with a microwave link pointing toward
Cobb and Polk setup in Bartow County will allow signals to pass around the hills between the core network in Cobb, and local public safety officials.
Though equipment and installation costs are part of the overall bill for the radio system on this tower, no additional costs are anticipated other than what the county will already have to pay in system maintenance costs. Denton said because they will only be using the site to link from Cobb to Polk, the agreement did not include additional payments required by the county.
Cobb County’s core radio network for the P-25 system was additionally paid for through Federal dollars according to Denton and Commission Chair Jennifer Hulsey, who explained that no costs will be incurred upon the county for its use as well.
“We’ve checked into this several times,” Hulsey said.
One final agreement is expected to get the county through any issues they might have during the final months the old system is in place. Though they have not yet approved a contract with Motorola, they’ll continue to use Diversified Electronics to handle maintenance on equipment until the new system is up and running. Diversified through Motorola will remain the maintenance contractor of choice for the county’s new radio system once it is installed.
However, that comes down to the agreement being approved by the County Commission.
As of mid-November, the system is slated to cost a total of $6.8 million if approved by the county, which will include a final price that provides municipalities, the Polk School District’s Police Department, and others who require the use of the new digital radio system handheld radios that can be used countywide.
That doesn’t include another 10year, $3 million-plus maintenance agreement with Motorola to cover replacement, upgrades and repairs to the system. Slight increases over the 10-year agreement annually are factored into the total maintenance cost price.
Denton explained that the contract would run through the end of the 2020 calendar year, but is being paid on a monthly basis in terms of the county’s expense. He said he was unsure whether they would prorate any billings toward the cost of maintenance on the new system if it is up and running by the end of the 2020.
“Once we go live, there will be no more agreements with Diversified except for maintenance on already existing third-party items,” Denton said.
He explained that would include items like Diversified being responsible for sending out crews to handle tower maintenance and inspections twice a year. Other maintenance items that he said are trying to be negotiated to lower costs are via inspection of specific maintenance items the county can handle itself.
For instance, regular maintenance and repairs of heating and air systems for each radio tower’s equipment buildings can be handled by the county, as well as regular upkeep of the grounds around each tower and building repairs they can do themselves.
Commissioners will likely be coming back for a special called session later this month to decide on a contract with Motorola, along with several items that were tabled due to more information needed during a long December 3 session of the board.