[Scan-DC] Shenandoah radio news

[Alan Henney]

The Valley Banner (Elkton, Virginia)

January 10, 2013

Shenandoah completes a busy 2012, looks ahead to 2013

BYLINE: Ted Hayes tedvb at comcast.net

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 10

LENGTH: 755 words

In the closing weeks of 2012, the Town of Shenandoah made improvements in its operations while laying out plans for a more active 2013.

For the four past weeks, town crews have been operating an emergency generator at the 12th Street well, and a second emergency generator at the town waste water treatment plant, a shake-down run for the new generators. Crews have turned them on for half an hour each week to iron out any possible bugs. In case of a major electric outage, these emergency generators will keep the town running - with drinkable water and an operating sewer system.

The town has also bought ten new police radios with a common frequency for all emergency responders, enabling local fire and police to communicate with each other, with other local responders and with state and national responders during any emergency. The downside of this change is that citizen radio scanners, which previously allowed the public to listen in on all local police calls and activity, will not work. The new radios have frequencies that are unreachable by any current citizen scanner. 

"Now the 'bad guys' can't tell what the police are saying," said Town Councilman Richard Pierce.

The town paid $20, 000 for the radios, a purchase mandated by the federal government, which offered no reimbursement.

Also in December, the town heard from the Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission about the Hazard Mitigation Plan Update. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) requires that this plan, which covers the Town of Shenandoah and the rest of the upper Shenandoah Valley, be updated every five years for any community to receive funding after a disaster. The regional commission will make the updates, and Shenandoah, along with the 19 other jurisdictions covered by it, will adopt it by resolution in the new year.