The McKean County Commissioners on Wednesday approved a slate of agreements that complete upgrades to the county’s 911 system.
“It’s certainly going to benefit our county and our residents,” said Commissioner Tom Kreiner.
The measures included a letter of concurrence with the Pennsylvania State Police Statewide Radio Network for two frequencies, and an agreement between McKean County and the state police for the use of the PA-STARNet, which is what the radio network is called.
A series of contracts, leases or purchase agreements were approved for the project as well. The first, to Xybix, was for six workstations at a cost of $114,850.42; relocating lights to a designation staging area for $3,432.54; SMB electronics recorder replacement for $77,359.60; a contract with MCM Consulting Group for $240,000 to implement the public safety communications system; Motorola contract for $7,772,614.09 with a completion date of Oct 30, 2023; carpeting for the 911 center, $15,056; and $500 for installation of internet and $200 a month for dedicated monthly internet access.
After the meeting, Kreiner explained the project will improve all communications with the 911 Center, “whether it’s paging, which is the initial dispatch, to the radio communication process once the dispatch has been made.”
He said it was a much overdue update.
“The system was outdated to say the least,” he explained. These improvements go along with the NextGen system, but are separate from it, Kreiner said.
The system will be piggybacking on the infrastructure that state police have in place.
“By combining our efforts with the state police network, it saves many millions of dollars from having to build towers or anything like that,” the commissioner said.
The next step in the process will be the educational component, bringing the local police and fire departments up to date on the new technology.
At the meeting, consultant Mike Grady said the improvements will make the 911 system much better. “They will improve the quality drastically.”
Kreiner said, “It’s certainly going to be a benefit to our county and our residents.”
The commissioners said the county had to wait its turn behind other counties that were doing similar upgrades.
“I think we’ve got a big winner here,” said commissioner Cliff Lane.
Commissioner Carol Duffy said, “we were first introduced to this concern at a County Commissioners Association conference.” While that was several years ago, she said the commissioners are glad that they were able to make the project happen.
In other business, the commissioners read a proclamation naming March as Bleeding Disorder Month.
