The Union County emergency communications system is on track to be completed in 12 to 18 months.
To complete this project, four tower sites for the system are needed. Currently, three existing sites have been determined and a fourth tower will be erected at a later date once a site is determined.
“I’m confident that, perhaps in the next couple of weeks, we’ll get that settled,” said Jo Duckworth, Union County emergency management director.
With winter weather, the process for establishing the communications system is delayed, which Duckworth said is to be expected and was built into the time line.
“So [the weather] really hasn’t caused any delays,” said Duckworth.
Once a fourth tower site is determined, the next step is for Motorola’s engineers to do site surveys and determine what needs to be done at each of the tower sites to get them ready for use.
Duckworth said it may be April when Motorola completes the total design.
“We’ve gotten everything we need to do expect for the final tower site done and we’re excited about it,” said Duckworth.
There is only one tower site to build. The plan is for this to be located on county-owned land near Highway 169 and U.S. Highway 69.
After the design is finalized, the equipment will be installed at all four tower sites.
Duckworth said once Motorola says the system is complete, work on the transition from the old system to the new system will be done.
“Our disruption to our communications system should be very minimal,” said Duckworth.
At this point, equipment has arrived and an inventory needs to be done. Radios need to be assigned to vehicles and personnel.
“We’re all anxious to see what a big difference it will make,” said Duckworth.