Plans are being developed to complete a costly upgrade to the Potter County 911 system that will require securing a significant amount of funding.
At a meeting last month, commissioners approved an expenditure of more than $370,000 that marks the first step in improvements expected to cost approximately $3.8 million total. Those initial funds came from a Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) grant to support the early build out of the new system.
“It’s been a difficult process to nail down what we need to do. We’ve been working on this for two years, but now we need to pull the trigger and get it going. This system can no longer be serviced,” said Commissioner Doug Morley. “There is still a little more testing and tweaking that needs to be done but we expect this to move forward because it has to.”
According to Morley, the county will begin soliciting bids from local banks to finance the project.
Morley stated that the frequency of failures within the system is increasing and the easy fixes have already been down. Much of the system is analog, while all new systems are digital, and the two types are not typically compatible. What analog systems are still fully operable have reached their end-of-life, or EOL.
Some communications use a microwave system that is completely obsolete. No companies continue to make new parts, and replacement parts are hard to come by and are often purchased through eBay or similar sales platforms. Older parts purchased second-hand are often unreliable, and they are expensive because there are so few of the components still around that function.
The current radio system is also out-of-date and needs to be rebooted regularly. That sounds easy enough, except that the reboot must be completed on the tower which causes lengthy outages for emergency responders.
Coverage is also poor in some areas due to failing equipment and exacerbated by the tall mountain and steep valleys of the county’s topography. Three areas of concern are located in or near Shinglehouse, Genesee and Roulette where signals are sometimes nearly impossible to get.
“In some cases, the outages are due to the system just trying to reach so far out from where the towers are. In others, line-of-sight is really a problem due to the topography,” said Morley.
Between failing equipment, coverage problems increasing due to outdated equipment, and a recent bandwidth narrowing, the frequency of failures are increasing. Exacerbating the issue is the fact that many systems need to be shut down while being checked for problems.
“This leaves us in a situation where we can’t just do a quick fix. We need a system built with today’s technology. We can’t just add new to the old stuff anymore,” Morley said. “The county needs to take on this project and do what’s required to bring the system online.”
Morley stated that officials are not certain in the order that all of the technology will be replaced, and further meetings with experts have been scheduled to determine the best course of action going forward.
“The existing system no longer functions as it should,” Morley said. “The only way to fix it is to put it all up new.”
