By Steve Reinbrecht
Berks County was supposed to have complied with federal radio requirements by the end of 2012 but has asked for an extension until the end of this year.
But county leaders will not tell me why Berks is two years behind on the $67 million tax-payer funded public-safety project.
And the Reading Eagle doesn’t seem to publish uncomfortable news about Berks government.
Brian Gottschall, county emergency services director, told me that all media requests go to Chief Operating Officer Carl Geffken, who didn’t respond to my inquiry.
The Reading Eagle followed the county’s battles with NIMBY opponents of the system in Cumru and Bethel townships but has had no recent stories [at least that I could find with its clumsy search engine] explaining why the project is so far behind.
In April, now-retired Eagle reporter and trusted county spokeswoman Mary Young wrote a story quoting county officials about how well they were doing their jobs to be prepared for disasters – but the story did not mention the radio system.
Tom Bausher, West Side Regional Emergency Management Agency’s emergency management coordinator, told me that the delay has not affected his operations. The agency serves Sinking Spring, West Reading, Wyomissing and Spring Township.
His bigger concern is how it will work. He’s heard it will be up in November.
He’s read mixed reviews of similar systems.
"It doesn’t get all good reviews, I’ll tell you."
Bausher also isn’t happy that he’s spent money to purchase new equipment required by the upgrade but the county will own it.
He’s paid for six units. Some large fire and police departments have had to acquire many more.
“The cost of this is outrageous.”
An FCC spokeswoman told me this week that the county is in compliance, having received extensions as needed.
The federal agency required emergency communications systems to change the frequencies they use by Jan. 1, 2013, and the county decided to restructure its system.
The goals were to improve radio coverage in hard-to-reach areas and allow all emergency responders to communicate with each other.
It called for building 21 new transmission towers and requiring local municipalities to chip in for equipment.
In a June 24 letter to the FCC asking for the extension, Gottschall wrote:
“We have made significant progress in the build out of the new system. The remaining sites have been built, but now we are in the process of optimizing the new VHF system that will replace the legacy systems. This will take some time to complete as we have to wait until cutover is completed.
“The reason for this is because 3 of the channels on the new systems are also in use today in wideband operation. The legacy channels cannot be vacated until the users are cutover and using the new 700 MHz trunking system. This is schedule to be completed by mid-November, 2014. Once the cutover is completed, we will need time to then get the new VHF system optimized and fully operational.”
