Waterford Looking At Ways To Upgrade Radio System For Emergency Workers

By PATRICIA DADDONA
Day Staff Writer, Waterford
Published on 12/26/2004

Waterford- An arrangement to lease and buy a uniform radio system could put state-of-the art radios in the hands of police, firefighters, and ambulance workers within the coming year.

The types of radios used now by town emergency workers and public works employees to communicate during emergencies vary by department, operate on different frequencies and are outdated in many other ways, said Police Chief Murray Pendleton.

A uniform radio system is essential in dealing with homeland security issues that might arise in the wake of the Sept. 9, 2001 terrorist attacks, Pendleton said Wednesday.

Yet, from a purely local standpoint, a firefighter and police officer responding today to the same incident from different locations often can't use the radios they have to talk to one another.

"In some cases, some of the radios we have, they don't even make parts for" anymore, Pendleton said.

In some parts of town, including Quaker Hill and Niantic River and Gardiner's Wood roads, radio coverage is spotty, he added.

Millstone Power Station has upgraded to an 800-megahertz system, and Waterford needs to do the same in order to communicate readily with Millstone security officials, he said. A new radio system would also work with similar systems in the state and region, he said.

Four years ago, a committee of emergency service employees and town officials found the cost to upgrade the radios too expensive, Pendleton said. A lease to purchase program like one outlined by Motorola, which supplies some of the town's radios, would offer an interest rate as low as 4 percent and enable the town to buy components over a period of several years, he said.

Motorola quoted Waterford an estimated cost of $648,682 annually from 2006 to 2010, or about $3.2 million total.

The Board of Selectmen recently approved a five-year capital improvement plan, which includes some funding in addition to the $1.6 million already set aside, First Selectman Paul B. Eccard said.

If finance officials approve the five-year plan, Pendleton said he would like to solicit bids in March and begin upgrading the town's radio system before summer ends.

"No system is going to be 100-percent" effective, Pendleton said. However, selectmen's support of the lease-purchase arrangement is "probably the most positive news we've heard in four years, and it makes the goal achievable."