UPDATED Wednesday, January 25, 2012 --- 10:21 a.m.

Press Release from the Dane County Executive's Office:

Dane County Moving Forward with Development of New Emergency Communications Network

Most Cities, Villages, Towns Authorize Agreements to Partner with County on "DaneCom"

After securing intergovernmental agreements from most of the cities, villages, and towns in Dane County, the county is moving forward to develop a new emergency communications radio network, County Executive Joe Parisi and County Board Chair Scott McDonell announced today.

The project, known as "DaneCom," will seamlessly link emergency responders and public works officials across Dane County. The result will be a system that greatly improves radio coverage in rural, outlying areas, keeping responders and citizens safe.

Under the terms of agreements signed by 55 of 59 municipalities participating in the network, Dane County will pay the capital costs of constructing the new system – about $18 million. After the network is up and running, the county, cities, villages, and towns will share the ongoing cost to operate and maintain the network, estimated at $825,000 annually.

"Our fire departments, emergency medical service (EMS) providers, and law enforcement agencies partner together to keep us safe,” said County Executive Joe Parisi. “Now the county is doing the same with its communities – teaming together in the interest of public safety.”

"This project has gone through many iterations, but thanks to the collaborative efforts of our locally elected officials, and diligence of County Board Chair Scott McDonell, we are now moving forward on a radio system to keep our responders and citizens safe," Parisi added.

“The county had a choice when faced with new federal regulations: either meet the letter of the law which would have actually decreased the quality of our emergency communications system, or develop an improved system with reliance on communities as partners to help shoulder the on-going operations cost of the system along with the county,” said Dane County Board Chair Scott McDonell. “ I am proud that, together, we have made the choice to invest in a 21st century radio system to serve our citizens.”

“I am glad that the DaneCom System is finally moving along and it has been a long time in coming,” said Gary Ziegler of the Dane County Emergency Medical Services Association and member of the DaneCom Governnance Board. “This System, although probably not everything we wanted, will go along way towards meeting the interoperability needs of the emergency responders in Dane County. It will also help to keep our responders safer when performing their duties.”

"We have worked with the County to improve public safety and make this system happen and will continue to work with the County to identify long-term funding," said Jerry Derr, Dane County Towns Association President.

The new digital communications system includes a variety of state of the art features including expanded coverage to rural areas, enhanced technology to assist firefighters communicate on the scenes of fires, and communication bridges allowing responders using different networks to talk with one another. This will be particularly helpful in improving communication on incidents that involve a regional response.

"DaneCom" will be managed in the years ahead by the "DaneCom Governance Board " comprised of representatives of Dane County, the Dane County Cities and Villages and Dane County Towns Associations, the Dane County Chiefs of Police, Dane County EMS Association, and Dane County Fire Chiefs Associations.

In the weeks ahead, the County Board will review a resolution authorizing the County Executive to sign the dozens of intergovernmental agreements from cities, villages, and towns.

Once that process is complete, construction of "DaneCom" will begin shortly thereafter, with an estimated completion and implementation in 2013.

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UPDATED: Wednesday, January 5, 2011 --- 9:15 p.m.

After years of fighting, Dane County officials finally get ready to launch a new radio system for first responders.

But the company they've picked to build the system has run into it's share of problems in Milwaukee.

Dane County officials say tonight they're confident in their decision to go with Harris Corporation and insist first responder safety is their priority.

For first responders radios are a lifeline and often their only way to answer the communities cries for help.

In Dane County the system is getting a makeover.

Acting County Executive Scott McDonell says, "This is a major upgrade from what we have out in the county now."

During emergencies like the massive interstate backup of 2008 crews from multiple agencies like police, highway workers and paramedics need to be able to talk to each other. On the new system they'll be able to.

McDonell says, "We're looking forward to greater coverage, less dark spots across the county."

But on a day Dane County officials celebrate how cheaply Harris Corporation will build their new system, they're reminded this is the same company overseeing Milwaukee's Open Sky radio system. It is a system that's had a lot of problems.

In fact last fall Milwaukee's system failed, going down for half an hour.

Dane County officials defend their pick of Harris Corporation saying a different company actually built Milwaukee's system. Harris Corporation bought them out later. They also say comparing the systems in Dane County and Milwaukee is like comparing apples and oranges.

They also point out a different company will be maintaining the Dane County system.

McDonell says, "We checked the references we got from Harris and then went beyond that and checked with some other communities that were using Harris."

They say communities as far away as Dade County Florida told them they'd use Harris again.

McDonell says, "We took this as an opportunity to improve our communication system, make sure our first responders have the best equipment at an affordable price so they're protected and system is protected "

County officials say a review panel spent a month analyzing the technical capability of the equipment and based most of their decision on that review.

They say they didn't even look at price until the technical analysis was done.

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POSTED: Wednesday, January 5, 2011 --- 9:15 p.m.

Release from Dane County:

Dane County will begin contract negotiations with Harris Corporation for construction of a new version of a countywide interoperable communications network, Acting County Executive Scott McDonell announced today.

“By working with our local government and public safety partners, we’re ready to move forward and begin contract talks with the company we think is best suited to build a state-of-the-art interoperable radio system for our responders,” McDonell said. “Because we stuck with this and worked toward a compromise, we’re closer to building an improved radio system that will help keep our communities and public safety responders safe.”

“Dane County taxpayers will save millions of dollars over the life of this new system because we redesigned and re-bid this important project,” Kathleen Falk said.

Harris Corporation was one of four companies that submitted proposals to the county for review when the county issued a new request for proposals (RFP) in October. The project was re-bid because its design, scope, and cost changed.

An independent review panel with representatives from Dane County, the Dane County Cities and Villages Association, and the Dane County Towns Association, along with representatives of various public safety agencies read through many hundreds of pages of proposals, sat in on multiple days worth of very technical presentations, and worked with an independent engineering firm hired by the county to help determine which vendor was best suited to meet the needs of responders across Dane County.

Technical capabilities and systems were thoroughly reviewed and it was determined that Harris Corporation best responded to the requirements of the RFP.

“Because this project was re-sized and re-bid, we’re in a position to bring significant savings for taxpayers while greatly improving the ability of our police officers, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians to communicate,” Verona Mayor Jon Hochkammer said. Hochkammer is President of the Dane County Cities and Villages Association.

“Dane County citizens will get a better value thanks to hard work by Scott McDonell, Kathleen Falk and John DeJung to work for a revised proposal and manage the process. It’s a model for cooperation which we should follow in the future,” said Mark Hazelbaker, who represented the Dane County Towns Association in the selection process.

Final cost figures for the project won’t be determined until completion of contract talks, but McDonell noted there was a significant difference in cost estimates between the four vendors.

“We won’t have exact dollar amounts for a few weeks yet, but all indications are the county and the towns, cities, and villages partnering on this project will see substantial savings from what we originally thought the costs of both construction and the ongoing yearly maintenance would be,” McDonell said.

Exact technical details of the project will be available upon completion of contract negotiations, but Harris Corporation met the requirements as laid out in the county’s RFP.

Technical design and system capabilities were 75% of the evaluation used to select the preferred vendor. Cost estimates were 25%.

Construction of the new interoperable system is scheduled to begin this summer and be completed in late 2012.

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Posted Thursday, January 28, 2010 --- 2:04 p.m.

Release from the Dane Co. Board of Supervisors:

A group of Dane County Board Supervisors has introduced a resolution calling for a cost-sharing methodology for the county’s new emergency radio system. This approach is endorsed by the Dane County Fire Chief’s Association and is similar to one proposed by the Dane County Cities and Villages Association.

"Our resolution endorses the DCCVA’s reasonable proposal that distributes costs fairly, ensures all interested have a voice at the table, and most importantly, gets us closer to providing a radio system that lets our first responders talk across jurisdictions and get help where it is needed when it is needed," said Sup. Patrick Miles.

Under current plans, the county will spend $30 million to purchase the equipment and technology to establish an interoperable radio communication system. That system will allow all local governments in Dane County to communicate on the same emergency radio channels. Under the funding proposal, the county and local governments would share the ongoing costs of operating and maintaining the system, which will be operated by the county’s Public Safety Communications Center (911 center).

"The Dane County Fire Chiefs fully support the efforts of the County Board to move this critical public safety initiative forward, and appreciates the efforts of the supervisors who have worked so hard to keep this project moving forward" said Dane County Fire Chief's Association President Marty Lamers. “The new radio system will support our first responders on every call, every day, for at least the next 20 years. It is imperative we get the system right from the beginning as it relates to improving interoperability, improving capacity, and improving coverage for both the City of Madison and county users whose lives can depend on it."

The proposal provides for a phased-in cost sharing system over a four year period. Annual financial audits would be conducted to set the actual payment amounts.

“We want to guarantee local governments a place at the table for ongoing policy decisions,” said Supervisor Hesselbein. “The proposal includes a new governing board for the emergency radio system with representatives from the county, the cities, villages and towns, and emergency services personnel.”
The governance structure and cost sharing methodology would be contained in intergovernmental agreements between the county and the municipal partners.

“Two very important parts of this resolution are support for the tactical analog sub-system and maintaining current 800 MHz capacity” said Supervisor Melanie Hampton. The analog sub-system would allow for communication between all responders at an emergency scene, as well as with the 911 center. Maintaining the 800 MHz capacity retains the current number of channels and the hardware to operate them so the system has the capacity it would need to operate in a long duration disaster or emergency situation.

“This proposal ensures that all citizens in Dane County will have access to a first-class 911 system,” said Supervisor Denise Duranczyk.

The proposal is included in County Board Resolution 233, 2009-2010, which will be heard by county committees next week, and is expected to be acted on by the full County Board in March. Other County Supervisors who are co-sponsors of the resolution are Bob Salov (Cambridge), Jeremy Levin (Madison), Wyndham Manning (Madison) and Cynda Solberg (Cottage Grove).