Steve Bicehouse

BUTLER — The county must replace radio equipment at the 911 dispatch center and throughout the county that will no longer be supported after 2018.

Additionally, the county must acquire new radio frequencies due to the federal government taking away the bandwidth called the T-band spectrum.

These emergency communications changes were part of a report that Steve Bicehouse, emergency services director, gave to the county commissioners.

A 2012 law mandates the Federal Communications Commission take away the T-band from emergency services in many areas nationally by 2022 so it can be auctioned off to the private sector.

The $14 million project must be complete by the end of 2018, Bicehouse said.

“We're on target right now,” he said of the county's progress.

Bicehouse told the commissioners this week he will request their approval next week on five items related to the upgrade.

The first request was to place a tower off Kohlmeyer Road, near Boyers, in northern Butler County in an agreement with the State of Pennsylvania Interoperability and Site Sharing.

Bicehouse said in the agreement, the state can place equipment on the tower for free and might perform some additional site modification.

He said the state wants to be free to place equipment on any co-owned sites in the county, which would be those at Sunnyview and Alameda Park, Bicehouse said.

“I don't think that would be an issue,” Bicehouse said.

Bicehouse also asked for the commissioners to approve a five-year tower lease with a communications company at a site in Freeport.

He said the tower, which now is used for the current radio system, would cost $1,700 per month to start, and $1,995 in five years.

Butler County is already using the tower and paying $500 per month, but will use an extra 20 feet of the structure in the new lease.

He also wants to lease property owned, but unused, by the West Sunbury Fire Department to build a tower.

The terms of the lease would be to pay the fire department $500 per month for 20 years, with a 2 percent increase each year.

Another item Bicehouse put before the commissioners is the use of a radio system server that is capable of handling the new system's radio traffic and switching to make it compatible with all other systems.

Yet another is a proposal to pay a local company to provide fiber lines to seven sites for $100,000 plus $425 per month.

The 20-year agreement is pending review by the solicitor.

Bicehouse said the entire upgrade was basically a large unfunded federal mandate.

“They said 'apply for (grant) funds,' but the government has a deficit and they haven't come out with guidelines (on the funds),” Bicehouse said. “When they do, we'll apply.”

He said once fully in place, the system will be more efficient and eliminate crowding on radio frequencies because it is digital.

“This will help that and manage the (radio) traffic better,” he said.