Essex County radio costs mount

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July 1, 2008

Supervisors seek way around 2 new relay circuits

By LOHR McKINSTRY The Press Republican Tue Jul 01, 2008, 12:00 AM EDT

ELIZABETHTOWN -- Essex County lawmakers are balking at paying additional communications costs for the county's Enhanced 911 system.

The idea of paying for two relay circuits from the 911 center in Lewis to the Schroon Lake Fire Station never made it to the floor of the County Board of Supervisors meeting Monday.

The lines would have eliminated the spotty paging that Schroon Lake fire and ambulance volunteers have now.

Instead, Supervisor Ronald Jackson (R-Essex) wanted to rent digital pagers from a commercial vendor, and Supervisor Randy Preston (I-Wilmington) suggested eliminating 911 dispatching for the Town of Long Lake in Hamilton County.

In the end, the Board of Supervisors took no action but asked County Emergency Services Director Raymond Thatcher to attend the regular meeting next Monday to discuss the issues.

WEAK SIGNAL

County Emergency Services Deputy Director Donald Jaquish told supervisors the paging signal is too weak to reach Schroon Lake reliably.

"They do not hear the pages. This is the only solution they found, to control these radio circuits with phone lines."

Installing dedicated phone lines to the Schroon Lake paging transmitter would cost $10,750, plus more than $200 a month per line.

"All the more reason to proceed with the radio project so we can eliminate these circuits," Jaquish said. "It's (the paging) a problem that existed but has gotten far worse in the last year."

He said a general proliferation of radio-frequency use may be to blame for the weak signals.

PROJECT MEETING

The county is preparing to construct a new public-safety radio communications system that would place antennas on more existing towers for better coverage.

A presentation on that project is scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday, July 9, in the Old County Courthouse at Elizabethtown.

The dedicated lines suggested for Schroon Lake would bring to 13 the number of leased lines the county has for radio communications, including two to Long Lake that supervisors want that town to pay for.

DISPUTED BILL

Jaquish said a $34,000 bill from Verizon to install those lines is in dispute.

"We did get a quote from Verizon. They installed a much more expensive circuit. I think, with negotiation, we might be able to do something."

County Attorney Daniel Manning III said he's negotiating with Verizon.

"We're working to try to whittle Verizon down on the bill. They basically charged us double (the quote) plus mileage. It's not our fault they decided to put something else in. Verizon should honor what we agreed on."

The county approved the installation of the leased lines in August 2007, at a cost not to exceed $41,400.

LONG LAKE DISPATCH

Long Lake officials have not signed a contract for dispatching yet, Manning said.

Supervisor Roby Politi (R-North Elba) said a contract with Long Lake should have been signed before the work was done.

"I don't know if Long Lake can even afford to pay for it," Preston said. "Is there any way we can transfer the (Long Lake) dispatch back to their own people?"

The calls couldn't be transferred back and maintain Enhanced 911 services, Jaquish said.

"Long Lake had no idea about this," Manning said. "I believe Long Lake will agree to shoulder some of the costs for this up to what they can afford to pay."

Supervisor Joyce Morency (R-St. Armand) said she wants to know why the overages weren't caught by someone.

"I can't believe the auditor wouldn't pick up on this stuff. They question a bag of doughnuts."

lmckinstry@pressrepublican.com