ETSB considering $20 million overhaul of emergency radio system
Sunday, October 9, 2005
By DAVE HANEY
OF THE JOURNAL STAR
PEORIA - The emergency radio system in Peoria County is a lot like a busy fast food restaurant: long lines and not enough open registers.
Peoria police officers typically have to wait to talk to dispatchers, nine rural volunteer fire departments are jammed into one channel and dead spots dot the county where little to no radio communications can be heard. Police and firefighters line up like customers, made to stand in specific lines no matter how busy.
The intrinsic problem is nothing new, says Dunlap fire Chief John Doering: "We've outgrown the current system."
Doering, a member of the Peoria County Emergency Telephone Systems Board - the group that oversees all of the county's 911 radio infrastructure - says details are still being hammered out of a $20 million proposal that would drastically overhaul the system - a revamp that essentially removes the fast food concept of having to wait in line.
"If you're that policeman or firefighter, all you care is that when I squeeze the button, I can talk and be heard," Doering says.
For residents whose hand is on the phone in need of emergency help, dialing 911 has expectations, says Peoria County ETSB Chairman David Tuttle.
"The public expects and depends that when they dial 911, they reach someone on the other end of the phone who will help them," says Tuttle, who has managed the Peoria city and county Emergency Communications Center located in Downtown Peoria over the past decade. "It is a life and death issue, if you have people who cannot communicate from inside a building or during an emergency. There's been situations literally where an officer could not use his radio and had to use a cell phone or house phone to call for (backup)."
Despite flaws with the current radio system, it is fairly dependable, he adds. "You don't see headlines in the newspaper about 911 outages or a phone system outage because it just doesn't happen," Tuttle says.
That dependability, however, is not ever-lasting. The city is experiencing reception problems in the new growth areas, and the county has rural areas with no radio penetration; aging equipment is becoming more expensive or impossible to replace; the ability for police and firefighters to talk is nearly impossible.
"The September 11 attacks is a testament for the need that police and fire have the ability to communicate," Tuttle says.
What's not to be forgotten, however, is the monster price tag. Estimated near $20 million, the proposed replacement is equivalent to one-fifth of Peoria County's overall budget, more than twice the estimated $7.7 million deficit Peoria School District 150 is facing, and about equal to what Pekin School District 303 spends to educate 2,000 students.
Why not just hand out Nextel cell phones, or similar two-way capable cell phones to complete the same task?
Tuttle says cell phone equipment is not public-safety grade and can become overloaded and fail in emergency situations.
"In an emergency, we can't afford to compete for air waves with the general public," he says. During what was thought to be an emergency at a Mapleton chemical plant, the cell phone system failed there because of a flood of calls to and from the immediate area.
Next to cost, the biggest drawback of the proposed system is a need for more towers. Sixteen of the proposed 35 tower sites are in place, meaning a replacement or addition of 19 tower sites. Once the costly infrastructure is in place, however, operating costs are low and future expansion can be met with minimal expense, Doering says.
So who's going to foot the bill?
"That's the $20 million question," says Peoria County Administrator Patrick Urich. "After 9-11 and (Hurricane) Katrina, it definitely shows a need for a fully interoperable system that can be used by the entire county."
Urich says the ETSB's $5 million in reserve and current annual financial stream from surcharges could be enough to cover the issuance of bonds, or loans. Federal grants may also cover a portion of the cost.
Currently, individual municipal agencies are responsible for their own portable radios. Chillicothe police and fire departments maintain their own radios, just as the city of Peoria covers city police, fire, public works and so on. These individual municipalities likely could be asked to cough up the dough for their new portable radios, pegged at about $2,800 each.
Although those municipalities would not have to join the new radio system from the start, and in fact, could have a number of years before joining, they could be forced to ask their residents to decide in a referendum if the money isn't there.
Tuttle says an increase in the 911 surcharge could be "a real possibility." The 80-cent surcharge for home phone lines in Peoria County has not changed since 1988 when state legislation allowed for its creation. What other counties charge, according to the Illinois Commerce Commission: Tazewell, 80 cents; Woodford, $1.25; Marshall, $2.60; Fulton, $1.85; Knox, $1.25; McLean, $1.25; Cook, $1.25. Among the highest is Putnam County, which has a $3.90 surcharge in place.
A countywide tax or increase in the surcharge would require a referendum and approval from county residents, Urich notes.
Says Kent Rotherham, a CPA and ETSB treasurer: "Just because everyone wants this new radio system doesn't mean it's affordable.
"Right now, we need to get everyone educated," Rotherham says. "After all the hard numbers are in and we see how funding could be met ... we can get everyone on board to see if this is what everyone wants."
The history
Modern-day dispatching of police and other emergency vehicles became popular in the 1980s. As technology improved, so did 911 systems.
In Tazewell County, agencies such as the Tazewell/Pekin Consolidated Communications Center, or TazCom, improved their services by offering enhanced 911 after a referendum, much like in Peoria County.
Instead of handling all of the county's 911 calls in one central location, there are four public safety answering points, or PSAPs, throughout Peoria County handling emergency issues. The Peoria Emergency Communications Center, which Tuttle manages, handles the majority of the county's emergency responses. Peoria Heights, Bartonville and Chillicothe are on their own systems but also act as back-up systems in the event one PSAP fails. Tazewell County is similarly constructed.
The Peoria County ETSB is a 15-member public body made up of 14 public safety officials and one citizen - all of whom are unpaid - from throughout the county. The ETSB is funded by a special surcharge listed on every telephone bill. Currently, home telephone customers pay 80 cents per month and cellular phone customers pay 75 cents per month, although only about 46 cents actually makes it to the ETSB coffers.
In 2002, the first full year the Peoria County ETSB collected both cellular and "land line" phone surcharge money, the ETSB took in nearly $1.5 million. The following year saw an increase of $188,000 or nearly $1.7 million, and last year the ETSB took in about $20,000 less.
The recent shortfall in money collected illustrates the decrease in number of home phone lines, which have dropped with the onslaught of cell phones and the use of cable TV to connect with the Internet, Tuttle said. Currently, the board has about $5 million in the bank.
For nearly three years, the Peoria County ETSB has been working on a plan to replace the radio equipment, and in 2003, it hired a consulting company to assess the county's 911 radio system. A bid was put out for a replacement system, which came back with two private vendors. A $30 million STARCOM system, manufactured and operated by Motorola, was voted down last month in favor of M/A-Comm's OpenSky digital trunking system - the new proposed system.
ETSB members say M/A-Comm was chosen because of price and compatibility with other equipment.
During a meeting last month in which the decision was made, a Motorola representative said Peoria would be "building an island" because Illinois State Police and nearby McLean County are operated by Motorola and the two would not be able to communicate across the same equipment.
Both Tuttle, Doering and M/A-Comm officials say the claim was false and the agencies will be linked.
What the Peoria County ETSB wants to avoid by moving slowly are costly mistakes made in other counties.
Tazewell County, which operates a radio system considered sort of a cross between Peoria County's current and the proposed system, spent $800,000 for a computer-aided dispatch, or CAD, system in 2002, which ultimately became inoperable by November of last year. Critics said the purchase was pushed through too fast, before enough research had been done.
McLean County's 911 system, called Metcom, had its share of problems when earlier this year the city of Bloomington left the communication center after eight years for what city officials said were errors in the dispatching they claim caused concerns for the safety of their police officers and residents. Officials say the proposed system will improve radio coverage, allow more users at any given time, improve communication between departments, reduce some operating costs and pave the way for future safety needs.
Sunday, October 9, 2005
By DAVE HANEY
OF THE JOURNAL STAR
PEORIA - The emergency radio system in Peoria County is a lot like a busy fast food restaurant: long lines and not enough open registers.
Peoria police officers typically have to wait to talk to dispatchers, nine rural volunteer fire departments are jammed into one channel and dead spots dot the county where little to no radio communications can be heard. Police and firefighters line up like customers, made to stand in specific lines no matter how busy.
The intrinsic problem is nothing new, says Dunlap fire Chief John Doering: "We've outgrown the current system."
Doering, a member of the Peoria County Emergency Telephone Systems Board - the group that oversees all of the county's 911 radio infrastructure - says details are still being hammered out of a $20 million proposal that would drastically overhaul the system - a revamp that essentially removes the fast food concept of having to wait in line.
"If you're that policeman or firefighter, all you care is that when I squeeze the button, I can talk and be heard," Doering says.
For residents whose hand is on the phone in need of emergency help, dialing 911 has expectations, says Peoria County ETSB Chairman David Tuttle.
"The public expects and depends that when they dial 911, they reach someone on the other end of the phone who will help them," says Tuttle, who has managed the Peoria city and county Emergency Communications Center located in Downtown Peoria over the past decade. "It is a life and death issue, if you have people who cannot communicate from inside a building or during an emergency. There's been situations literally where an officer could not use his radio and had to use a cell phone or house phone to call for (backup)."
Despite flaws with the current radio system, it is fairly dependable, he adds. "You don't see headlines in the newspaper about 911 outages or a phone system outage because it just doesn't happen," Tuttle says.
That dependability, however, is not ever-lasting. The city is experiencing reception problems in the new growth areas, and the county has rural areas with no radio penetration; aging equipment is becoming more expensive or impossible to replace; the ability for police and firefighters to talk is nearly impossible.
"The September 11 attacks is a testament for the need that police and fire have the ability to communicate," Tuttle says.
What's not to be forgotten, however, is the monster price tag. Estimated near $20 million, the proposed replacement is equivalent to one-fifth of Peoria County's overall budget, more than twice the estimated $7.7 million deficit Peoria School District 150 is facing, and about equal to what Pekin School District 303 spends to educate 2,000 students.
Why not just hand out Nextel cell phones, or similar two-way capable cell phones to complete the same task?
Tuttle says cell phone equipment is not public-safety grade and can become overloaded and fail in emergency situations.
"In an emergency, we can't afford to compete for air waves with the general public," he says. During what was thought to be an emergency at a Mapleton chemical plant, the cell phone system failed there because of a flood of calls to and from the immediate area.
Next to cost, the biggest drawback of the proposed system is a need for more towers. Sixteen of the proposed 35 tower sites are in place, meaning a replacement or addition of 19 tower sites. Once the costly infrastructure is in place, however, operating costs are low and future expansion can be met with minimal expense, Doering says.
So who's going to foot the bill?
"That's the $20 million question," says Peoria County Administrator Patrick Urich. "After 9-11 and (Hurricane) Katrina, it definitely shows a need for a fully interoperable system that can be used by the entire county."
Urich says the ETSB's $5 million in reserve and current annual financial stream from surcharges could be enough to cover the issuance of bonds, or loans. Federal grants may also cover a portion of the cost.
Currently, individual municipal agencies are responsible for their own portable radios. Chillicothe police and fire departments maintain their own radios, just as the city of Peoria covers city police, fire, public works and so on. These individual municipalities likely could be asked to cough up the dough for their new portable radios, pegged at about $2,800 each.
Although those municipalities would not have to join the new radio system from the start, and in fact, could have a number of years before joining, they could be forced to ask their residents to decide in a referendum if the money isn't there.
Tuttle says an increase in the 911 surcharge could be "a real possibility." The 80-cent surcharge for home phone lines in Peoria County has not changed since 1988 when state legislation allowed for its creation. What other counties charge, according to the Illinois Commerce Commission: Tazewell, 80 cents; Woodford, $1.25; Marshall, $2.60; Fulton, $1.85; Knox, $1.25; McLean, $1.25; Cook, $1.25. Among the highest is Putnam County, which has a $3.90 surcharge in place.
A countywide tax or increase in the surcharge would require a referendum and approval from county residents, Urich notes.
Says Kent Rotherham, a CPA and ETSB treasurer: "Just because everyone wants this new radio system doesn't mean it's affordable.
"Right now, we need to get everyone educated," Rotherham says. "After all the hard numbers are in and we see how funding could be met ... we can get everyone on board to see if this is what everyone wants."
The history
Modern-day dispatching of police and other emergency vehicles became popular in the 1980s. As technology improved, so did 911 systems.
In Tazewell County, agencies such as the Tazewell/Pekin Consolidated Communications Center, or TazCom, improved their services by offering enhanced 911 after a referendum, much like in Peoria County.
Instead of handling all of the county's 911 calls in one central location, there are four public safety answering points, or PSAPs, throughout Peoria County handling emergency issues. The Peoria Emergency Communications Center, which Tuttle manages, handles the majority of the county's emergency responses. Peoria Heights, Bartonville and Chillicothe are on their own systems but also act as back-up systems in the event one PSAP fails. Tazewell County is similarly constructed.
The Peoria County ETSB is a 15-member public body made up of 14 public safety officials and one citizen - all of whom are unpaid - from throughout the county. The ETSB is funded by a special surcharge listed on every telephone bill. Currently, home telephone customers pay 80 cents per month and cellular phone customers pay 75 cents per month, although only about 46 cents actually makes it to the ETSB coffers.
In 2002, the first full year the Peoria County ETSB collected both cellular and "land line" phone surcharge money, the ETSB took in nearly $1.5 million. The following year saw an increase of $188,000 or nearly $1.7 million, and last year the ETSB took in about $20,000 less.
The recent shortfall in money collected illustrates the decrease in number of home phone lines, which have dropped with the onslaught of cell phones and the use of cable TV to connect with the Internet, Tuttle said. Currently, the board has about $5 million in the bank.
For nearly three years, the Peoria County ETSB has been working on a plan to replace the radio equipment, and in 2003, it hired a consulting company to assess the county's 911 radio system. A bid was put out for a replacement system, which came back with two private vendors. A $30 million STARCOM system, manufactured and operated by Motorola, was voted down last month in favor of M/A-Comm's OpenSky digital trunking system - the new proposed system.
ETSB members say M/A-Comm was chosen because of price and compatibility with other equipment.
During a meeting last month in which the decision was made, a Motorola representative said Peoria would be "building an island" because Illinois State Police and nearby McLean County are operated by Motorola and the two would not be able to communicate across the same equipment.
Both Tuttle, Doering and M/A-Comm officials say the claim was false and the agencies will be linked.
What the Peoria County ETSB wants to avoid by moving slowly are costly mistakes made in other counties.
Tazewell County, which operates a radio system considered sort of a cross between Peoria County's current and the proposed system, spent $800,000 for a computer-aided dispatch, or CAD, system in 2002, which ultimately became inoperable by November of last year. Critics said the purchase was pushed through too fast, before enough research had been done.
McLean County's 911 system, called Metcom, had its share of problems when earlier this year the city of Bloomington left the communication center after eight years for what city officials said were errors in the dispatching they claim caused concerns for the safety of their police officers and residents. Officials say the proposed system will improve radio coverage, allow more users at any given time, improve communication between departments, reduce some operating costs and pave the way for future safety needs.
