system

By James P. Gannon

Special to the Rappahannock News

Moving to improve the county's emergency communications system for fire, rescue and law enforcement, the Rappahannock County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday awarded a $513,197 contract to Motorola for a new radio communications system.

In a second major decision, the supervisors also authorized County Administrator John McCarthy to execute a construction contract of up to $550,347 with a Harrisonburg, Va., firm to renovate the old Scrabble School to become the Rappahannock Senior Center and an African-American heritage site.

The contract award to Motorola was the culmination of more than two years of study and discussions on how to improve the county’s emergency communications, which have relied on obsolete technology and one radio tower that leaves parts of the county uncovered.

The new, high-frequency 800 megahertz system will link in to an existing system in use in neighboring Culpeper and Fauquier counties, improving the ability of the Rappahannock County Sheriff’s Office and its fire and rescue units to communicate among themselves and with emergency responders from those two counties as well.

"It is going to be a far superior system," said Art Candenquist, secretary of the Rappahannock County Fire & Rescue Association, who came to the supervisors’ meeting to monitor the board’s decision. The existing low-frequency system is based on "1940s and 1950s" technology, with signals beaming from a single tower in the town of Washington, he said.

"With the mountains and hills here, we end up with a lot of ‘dead spots’ in the county" where the signal from the Washington tower can’t reach a sheriff’s deputy or a fire-rescue unit on call, Candenquist said. "It puts them in jeopardy because if they are having difficulty they can’t communicate," he said. With the new system, "we will end up with about 95% coverage of the county."

The system to be supplied and installed by Motorola will use three existing towers–two in Fauquier and one in Culpeper–that can beam signals to nearly all parts of the county. Every fire and rescue unit and all sheriff’s deputies will be supplied with the new two-way radios, more than 100 units in all.

McCarthy said the county budget earmarked $800,000 for the new communications system. The $513,197 contract with Motorola is well below that, but he told the supervisors that there will be additional expenses, including "host fees" to Culpeper and Fauquier counties for allowing Rappahannock to "piggyback" on their systems. He foresaw an additional $50,000 to $75,000 in "upfront costs" and perhaps $20,000 or so in annual fees paid to the two neighboring counties for using their system.

McCarthy said the new system should be "fully operational" by next January. Supervisors voted unanimously to award the contract to Motorola.

On the Scrabble School project, McCarthy said the proposed contract with low-bidder Dink’s Construction of Harrisonburg is not finalized, but he asked for and received authorization to sign that contract after additional discussions aimed at trimming the total cost by adjusting some specifications on the project. He said his aim is to bring the contract down to about $530,000 by "value engineering" some of the specifications.

"I think we ought to get the ball rolling" on the project, said Wakefield District Supervisor Roger Welch, rather than deferring action to a later meeting while McCarthy hammers out the final number. The rest of the board voted 4-0 to authorize McCarthy to finalize the contract and begin the work, with Ron Frazier of Jackson District recusing himself from voting because he had assisted some contractors interested in bidding on the job. Frazier is an electrical contractor.

Renovation on the school, which educated county black children during the era of school segregation from the 1920s to the 1960s, could begin in October and be finished in spring 2009. The county’s program for providing meals and recreational and social opportunities for senior citizens will move into the building upon completion.