James City and York counties could be looking at as much as $40.1 million for upgrades to emergency equipment, according to documents released with the York County proposed budget for 2014.
Much of the work would be on the 2017 budget, making precise figures difficult to determine at this point. The 2014 proposed budget, released by York County Administrator James McReynolds, includes an outline of projects through 2023, with $29.1 million projected for the upgrades in 2017.
When authorities go to find bidders for the projects, a better idea of total costs will emerge, said Terry Hall, Chief of Emergency Communications at the York, Poquoson, Williamsburg Regional Emergency Communications Center in York County.
Hall said equipment eventually ceases to be viable because once it reaches a certain age, finding replacement parts and technicians to service the equipment becomes difficult. Running a high-tech center like Hall’s, which provides emergency dispatch services to the region, requires officials to cater to the lifespan of the equipment.
“You buy a car or a computer, it has a life cycle,” Hall said.
Emergency responders throughout the Historic Triangle and surrounding localities rely on a complicated network of radio equipment that enables them to effectively communicate. Part of this network is a series of communication towers that run throughout York and James City counties. These towers are 300 to 400 feet tall, Hall said, and contain the microwave system that acts as the backbone of the regional radio network.
A microwave system allows emergency operators to use an in-house system instead of relying on a phone company to provide service to their equipment. Hall said the phone service is the old way of doing things, and that the microwave system allows them to rapidly transfer data and to communicate. In the nine years that the center has used a microwave system, Hall said it has never gone offline.
York and James City counties will likely split the costs down the middle, with the exception of $2.1 million for dispatch console upgrades, which would be shouldered by York County, and a $3 million telephone replacement: York would cover $1.3 million of that while James City County would cover $1.7 million. That puts the total for each county, as currently projected, at $18.3 million for James City County and $21.8 million for York County, according to McReynolds’ proposed budget outline.
Nothing is final, however, until the localities all sit down and agree to any potential spending. They’re bound by a memorandum of understanding that stipulates they cannot make a move on upgrades of this magnitude until everyone is on board. The York County document that outlines the project was released as part of a collection of proposed documents — meetings with James City County to hammer out details and agree on any potential spending have yet to occur.
Gloucester County is also a partner of the network, however their equipment is newer so it does not need to be replaced on the same schedule as James City and York counties. Williamsburg and Poquoson are tenants of the system, meaning they pay monthly user fees to have their 911 services handled by the center and to use the radio network. The user fee spares those localities from having to invest in the upgrades, Hall said.
Hall said these prices reflect a regionally cooperative approach to purchasing, where localities join together to maximize their buying power. For example, he said, both York County and James City County need a radio tower near the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail. Instead of each locality building a tower, the two joined together, saving more than $1 million.
The Regional Emergency Communications Center attracted attention in December when it became one of the first call centers in the nation to begin accepting 911 text messages. That service is currently available only to Verizon Wireless customers.
The proposed equipment upgrades are as follows:
- $1.8 million for a new Computer Aided Dispatch system in 2022. CAD systems compile information in 911 calls and helps disseminate it to emergency responders.
- $3 million for a 911 telephone system replacement in 2022. The new phone system is far more complicated than a standard telephone, Hall said.
- $2.1 million in 2017 to upgrade hardware and software at all 14 dispatch consoles at the Emergency Communications Center.
- $16 million in 2017 to replace mobile radio equipment used by law enforcement and fire and emergency personnel throughout the area. Each radio is $3,500 to $4,000 each, and the localities use about 4,000 of them, Hall said.
- $11 million to replace antennas, transmission lines, mobile data servers, batteries and other equipment that’s part of the radio system.
- $6.2 million to replace the microwave system in 2019.
These prices factor in future expenses, such as maintenance contracts and cybersecurity upgrades.
