Daniel is exactly right on the above statement. The telecommunications director told me face to face in one simple sentence that Rowan would "never connect to the Charlotte/Mecklenburg system because they would take all control away from us...".
I agree in the decisions he and his committee have made to leave control of the system in the hands of those who oversaw the purchase of same. By doing this, they have programming, maintenance and operational technicians all under the same roof. The turnaround time to add a radio is limited to just one day. I feel sure that Cabarrus, Gaston and Union counties will one day regret the choice they made to be a part of the Char/Meck system.
To add to what Shannon said, the gentleman that is the City System Manager/Radio Shop Manager has been involved with the system since the initial design in 1987-88, he "birthed" the system into service in 1989, has been involved with every expansion and addition since. And he was integral in the design, installation, and launch of our new P-25 system that is coming online today. If our system burps or farts the wrong way I guarantee you that he knows exactly what it is and how to fix it. Along with him, one of the two main guys from Motorola that have helped install and get this P-25 system up and running used to work here in Salisbury for Triangle and Mobex Communications when they held the city & county radio system contracts. Matter of fact he was also part of birthing the original analog system in 1989. We couldn't ask for anyone better to be hands on with the implementation of our new system.
Along with Rob Robinson who is the current Communications/911 Manager helping with the switch over, Frank Thomason, who is the current Rowan County Emergency Services Director is helping with the switch. Chief Thomason was the first Communications/911 director for Rowan County in 1994 when all the county FD's, EMS/Rescue, Sheriff's Office and smaller municiple LEOS moved over to the 800 system, and we saw the birth of the Rowan County Department of Telecommunications (911). Up until then 911 only dispatched County and City Fire, EMS and Rescue. The Sheriff's Office was still dispatched in house, and Salisbury PD was also in house. Chief Thomason has been an integral part of our system growth and upgrade as well. As some know when the Rowan County Telecomm Dept was born it's first home was on the second floor of the Rowan County Justice Center / Court House / Sheriff's Office, in downtown Salisbury. It was expanded until there wasn't any room left. They moved fall of last year to the new consolidated Rowan 911 center on Corporate Circle next door to the headquarters for Rowan County Emergency Services. For the extra testing and stuff they're doing right this minute on City Fire Dispatch to get things just right, we couldn't have a better group of individuals getting things set up and in motion.
*** Later this evening I'll post some pictures I have of the old comm center when it was first opened, up until it closed and was moved last year ***