Madison Moves Forward with EMS Communications Upgrade
After dealing with outdated equipment for some time, additional efforts to improve the town’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Communication system are now underway. At the June 27 Board of Selectmen (BOS) meeting, the board voted to move forward and sign a lease with Motorola Solutions, Inc., for the purchase of new radio equipment.
A phased approach to replacing the communication system began a few years ago and is currently included in the new Capital Improvement Program, a long-term financial planning tool for the town.
Police Chief Jack Drumm said the requested upgrades are a necessary expenditure for the town.
“This is 14 years in the making,” he said. “Approximately two years ago we set up a study on the enhancement of radio communications within the town of Madison. We have had a system that at best we were lucky it stayed together. It needed many upgrades over the years.”
The town has already begun updates to the dispatch center and will continue with infrastructure upgrades, which includes a new radio tower and associated equipment. The project is estimated to cost $1.8 million, according to Drumm.
“As far as the project, the initial engineering cost that we looked at was somewhere in the area of $3.6 million,” he said. “We found ways to reduce that cost and brought it down to $1.8” million.
Drumm said they will be replacing and enhancing the town,s critical infrastructure.
“We have recently gone on the back bone of the State of Connecticut on their radio system. That enhancement has been tremendous for us and what we are also going to do is allow the State of Connecticut to partner with us and put equipment on that tower,” he said. “That is going to increase services for us and the adjacent communities.”
New equipment should be a high priority for Madison right now, according to Drumm.
“Presently our main transmission tower is an antenna that sticks out of the attic of the Legend Hill center and that has failed on us several times, generally during storms, which puts at risk public safety,” he said. The enhancement to the system will increase coverage in the area of Route 1 to about 88 or 90 percent, from its current level of about 43 to 50 percent, Drumm said.
The lease on the equipment will last seven years and came in at what Drumm called a very good rate. Construction for this phase of the project is expected to start within 60 days.
“For the town of Madison, this is long overdue,” he said.