SMETHPORT — The McKean County Commissioners met briefly Thursday morning to lock in rates for replacing the public safety paging and radio systems for the county.

“The commissioners have been involved with MCM Consulting to upgrade our radio system which is 20-plus years old,” Chairman Tom Kreiner said at the meeting.

He noted there was still work to be done, but the agreements were made to secure 2021 pricing.

The commissioners contracted with MCM Consulting Group Inc. in April of 2021 to evaluate the existing public safety paging and radio system, identifying the needs, improvements, and opportunities for replacement of the infrastructure.

“The goal is to increase coverage and reliability for our public safety partners,” said Kreiner in a prepared release.

According to information from the commissioners, McKean County began dispatching emergency services with only a single tower site, slowly expanding paging and radio system coverage through the years. Although improvements and additions have been made to the infrastructure, the current systems are in differing stages of their lifecycle and have varying technologies, and providing consistent coverage remains challenging.

MCM Consulting has been working with the county project team to identify the current system needs and design a public safety paging and radio system network capable of expanding coverage and reliability while maintaining fiscal responsibility to the residents of McKean County, according to the commissioners.

“We are pleased at the opportunity to provide recommendations for vital paging and radio system improvements to the public safety infrastructure,” said Michael McGrady, CEO, MCM Consulting, in a prepared statement.

The replacement system design meets public safety standards for reliability and performance and will provide a robust public safety communications network for a considerable time to come.

Through careful design and pre-contract pricing negotiations, McKean County will realize significant financial savings by committing to 2021 pricing for subscriber units as they look ahead with the much-needed project and finalize negotiations with vendors on the infrastructure.

The recommended design leverages existing tower site paging equipment and infrastructure as well as bolsters the additional elements of a new public safety paging and radio system network for the county.

“We have carefully considered the options and costs to optimize our coverage while being good stewards of the taxpayer dollars,” said Commissioner Carol Duffy. “We are confident that moving forward will better leverage the county as a whole.”