[TrunkCom] Oakland County TRS II, Update

[Ron Wilbanks]

Hello Everyone:

Oakland County is to replace rescue radio system

January 18, 2002
BY KATHLEEN GRAY
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

Although Oakland County has used a Motorola emergency radio system
for the past eight years, police and fire agencies unanimously voted
Thursday to replace the system with one from another company.

M/A-Com Inc., a Lowell, Mass.-based company, got the nod for a $30-
to $40-million contract to replace a radio system that has outlived
its usefulness.

The current system doesn't allow some agencies to communicate with
each other at the scene of a crime, fire or accident.

Motorola, which is based in Schaumburg, Ill., and M/A-Com presented
proposals to replace the system with one that would eliminate that
problem. The M/A-Com system, however, allows more than one
conversation to take place on the same frequency. Motorola's proposed
system does not.

Because the county has only 32 radio frequencies to cover the nearly
100 police, fire and emergency departments, such flexibility was
paramount, said Patricia Coates, the administrator for CLEMIS, also
called Courts and Law Enforcement Management Information System,
which is a consortium of police and fire agencies that share data
electronically.

While Motorola has a good reputation among police and fire agencies
and is in the process of replacing Michigan State Police's radio
system, the county was concerned about the availability of Motorola's
equipment.

When a lightning strike took out the county's Motorola system in July
2000, the county found that many replacement parts weren't available
or manufactured anymore, said Coates.

The two companies submitted bids in the mid-$40-million range. The
system will be paid for with money generated from a 57-cent-per-month
surcharge that has been applied to all county phone lines since mid-
2000. The surcharge, which is set to expire in 2006, will generate
about $36 million for the project.

Farmington Hills Police Chief William Dwyer said the CLEMIS board
might ask the county Board of Commissioners to extend the surcharge
to pay additional costs or negotiate a lower price for the system as
M/A-Com's contract is finalized.

It will take about 30 months to replace the system.

73's

Ron