From the Marin IJ on February 24, 2024:
The $74 million upgrade for Marin County’s emergency radio system is on track to finish construction this month and to begin operating by October.
“We’re anxious to get it online, and we’re grateful for the patience of everyone involved and the efforts in putting it forward,” said Heather Tannehill-Plamondon, executive officer of the Marin Emergency Radio Authority, or MERA.
Once construction is completed, the agency will replace radio equipment in law enforcement vehicles over the next few months, said Dave Jeffries, MERA’s deputy executive officer.
Twenty-five law enforcement, fire and public works agencies across the county communicate to dispatch centers by using MERA’s $21 million system that was designed in 1998. The system has equipment that requires spare parts that are no longer made.
“It works great when it works, but when it breaks, a lot of that stuff is hard to get,” said Deputy Chief Chris Martinelli of the Marin County Fire Department.
Sausalito police Lt. Brian Mather said the system has connection problems.
“With the older equipment and being in southern Marin, we have had some issues with dead zones and poor radio connection, as you would expect from aging equipment,” he said. “County radio and MERA do the best they can to keep everything up and running, but the new tech is welcome.”
The system had 2.3 million radio calls from January through November last year, Jeffries reported.
MERA’s project aims to improve radio coverage, shorten emergency response times and radio user wait times, and expand the capacity from 3,000 radios to 5,000 radios.
“I will say that it will be a great benefit to have a countywide radio system, especially in times of large-scale incidents that involve multiple jurisdictions,” Novato police Chief Jim Naugle said. “Ease and continuity of communication are critical in those situations.”
Upgrades include moving the digital radio system into the 700- to 800-megahertz frequency range and installing radio equipment at eight sites.
“The agencies’ ability to talk is expanded throughout the county and also their ability to talk to one another is improved,” Tannehill-Plamondon said.
MERA’s new radio sites include Muir Beach, Tomales, Wolfback Ridge in Sausalito and the Mill Valley water tank. Motorola recently installed satellite dishes at the Muir Beach location, which is next to the site of the future fire station on Seascape Drive.
As part of MERA’s project, five radio sites, including the one at Mill Valley City Hall, were decommissioned to improve radio signal communications, Jeffries said. He said the Mill Valley project aims to simplify the city’s emergency radio coverage by just having one site, not two, provide coverage.
Nearly 10 years have passed since voters approved Measure A, which implemented a 20-year county property tax that’s designed to raise about $71 million for the project. The measure levied an annual $29 tax on single-family residential parcels, and $174 a year on commercial or industrial parcels larger than half an acre.
The project’s budget was originally estimated to be $40 million in 2014, but rose to $68 million in 2019 and $74 million by 2021. Much of the budget is based on a $43 million contract with Motorola Solutions to install equipment at MERA system sites.
The project’s construction was initially planned to finish in 2018, but delays related to supply and labor issues mounted, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic began.
“I’m still having supply issues,” Jeffries said in late January. “I’m waiting for a box of electrical equipment we’ve been waiting for for months. That’s the type of stuff we’ve been running into, and nobody saw it coming years ago.”
Jeffries also mentioned construction challenges at project sites such as Coyote Peak, where a crew had to run electricity up a 7,000-foot road.
The challenge in October is to carry all of Marin County’s dispatch centers over to the new system without interrupting emergency communications.
“We have a backup in place just in case they get a call during the transition,” Jeffries said.
The Marin County Fire Department already has switched to its new radio gear, Martinelli said. He added that the radios also allow firefighters to use statewide channels for mutual aid.
“We’re excited about it obviously,” Martinelli said about the system upgrade. “We’re actually going to see very little change on our side.”
The $74 million upgrade for Marin County’s emergency radio system is on track to finish construction this month and to begin operating by October.
“We’re anxious to get it online, and we’re grateful for the patience of everyone involved and the efforts in putting it forward,” said Heather Tannehill-Plamondon, executive officer of the Marin Emergency Radio Authority, or MERA.
Once construction is completed, the agency will replace radio equipment in law enforcement vehicles over the next few months, said Dave Jeffries, MERA’s deputy executive officer.
Twenty-five law enforcement, fire and public works agencies across the county communicate to dispatch centers by using MERA’s $21 million system that was designed in 1998. The system has equipment that requires spare parts that are no longer made.
“It works great when it works, but when it breaks, a lot of that stuff is hard to get,” said Deputy Chief Chris Martinelli of the Marin County Fire Department.
Sausalito police Lt. Brian Mather said the system has connection problems.
“With the older equipment and being in southern Marin, we have had some issues with dead zones and poor radio connection, as you would expect from aging equipment,” he said. “County radio and MERA do the best they can to keep everything up and running, but the new tech is welcome.”
The system had 2.3 million radio calls from January through November last year, Jeffries reported.
MERA’s project aims to improve radio coverage, shorten emergency response times and radio user wait times, and expand the capacity from 3,000 radios to 5,000 radios.
“I will say that it will be a great benefit to have a countywide radio system, especially in times of large-scale incidents that involve multiple jurisdictions,” Novato police Chief Jim Naugle said. “Ease and continuity of communication are critical in those situations.”
Upgrades include moving the digital radio system into the 700- to 800-megahertz frequency range and installing radio equipment at eight sites.
“The agencies’ ability to talk is expanded throughout the county and also their ability to talk to one another is improved,” Tannehill-Plamondon said.
MERA’s new radio sites include Muir Beach, Tomales, Wolfback Ridge in Sausalito and the Mill Valley water tank. Motorola recently installed satellite dishes at the Muir Beach location, which is next to the site of the future fire station on Seascape Drive.
As part of MERA’s project, five radio sites, including the one at Mill Valley City Hall, were decommissioned to improve radio signal communications, Jeffries said. He said the Mill Valley project aims to simplify the city’s emergency radio coverage by just having one site, not two, provide coverage.
Nearly 10 years have passed since voters approved Measure A, which implemented a 20-year county property tax that’s designed to raise about $71 million for the project. The measure levied an annual $29 tax on single-family residential parcels, and $174 a year on commercial or industrial parcels larger than half an acre.
The project’s budget was originally estimated to be $40 million in 2014, but rose to $68 million in 2019 and $74 million by 2021. Much of the budget is based on a $43 million contract with Motorola Solutions to install equipment at MERA system sites.
The project’s construction was initially planned to finish in 2018, but delays related to supply and labor issues mounted, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic began.
“I’m still having supply issues,” Jeffries said in late January. “I’m waiting for a box of electrical equipment we’ve been waiting for for months. That’s the type of stuff we’ve been running into, and nobody saw it coming years ago.”
Jeffries also mentioned construction challenges at project sites such as Coyote Peak, where a crew had to run electricity up a 7,000-foot road.
The challenge in October is to carry all of Marin County’s dispatch centers over to the new system without interrupting emergency communications.
“We have a backup in place just in case they get a call during the transition,” Jeffries said.
The Marin County Fire Department already has switched to its new radio gear, Martinelli said. He added that the radios also allow firefighters to use statewide channels for mutual aid.
“We’re excited about it obviously,” Martinelli said about the system upgrade. “We’re actually going to see very little change on our side.”
