By Carl Lindquist
The York Dispatch
YORK COUNTY, Pa. — York County’s 911 project will wrap up in the coming months after overcoming its last major hurdle.
Testing of the new radio and paging system finished last week, said Rob Sterner, the project’s director. The system exceeded requirements.
“It’s a major investment that the county is making in the public safety infrastructure,” Sterner said.
Planning for a new 911 system began in 2003. The idea eventually developed to include a new 911 center in Springettsbury Township.
The new center and system were spurred by complaints from emergency responders that the existing radio and paging network is a public-safety hazard because of “dead spots” throughout the
county where they are unable to communicate with dispatchers. A 2002 study found said the county’s radio system was in “critical need of upgrade.”
Distribution: With testing of the radio and paging network complete, the county will next month begin distributing new equipment to emergency responders and training them to use it, Sterner said. Representatives from each agency will be trained, and they then will train their colleagues.
The transition to the new system will begin in November, Sterner said. All emergency responders should be using the new radio network by year’s end. The deadline to begin using the new pagers could extend longer.
The pagers are used to notify emergency responders of an incident.
The total budget for the project is $67.8 million, which includes about $33 million for the radio and paging system.
Sterner said he expects the project to come in under budget.
Signals: First responders should get strong signals with the new radio and paging network in more than 95 percent of the county, Sterner said. Plus, they will be able to communicate from inside all critical buildings, such as school and hospitals.
That’s one of the benefits that interests York Area United Fire and Rescue Chief Robert McCoy, he said. McCoy took the position in February after working in Prince George’s County, Md. He said the current system in York County is worse than the one he was using. But he anticipates that the new system will be even better than the one in Prince George’s.
“I have heard and seen some areas where radio reception is not that great,” he said. “I am looking forward to the new system as far as the abilities.”
With the technology in place, the county now needs to focus on stabilizing its dispatcher work force at the 911 center, said President York County Commissioner Steve Chronister. Turnover has been a continual problem.
“There are some issues there,” he said. “We hope to move forward to reduce the turnover and provide excellent service to go along with our state-of-the-art project.”