MICHAEL MCCABE
WESTFIELD – Two City Council committees voted Tuesday night to support approval of a $2.15 million bond to upgrade radio communication capabilities for municipal departments citywide.
The Finance Committee and the Legislative & Ordinance Committee met in joint session last night to hear details of the proposed radio system presented by department heads and supervisors. About two dozen police officers and firefighters also attended the session as a show of support.
Technology director Lenore Bernashe said the tornado and Halloween storm of 2011 exposed the lack of ability to communicate during a crisis, that departments could not speak directly with each other to coordinate a response and that in many part of the city the current radio system has dead spots.
The proposed radio system “is not just for public safety departments, although public safety is a large component, but we’re looking at a city-wide system for all departments,” Bernashe said.
Fran Cain of the Department of Public Works water division said that in those emergencies “people were calling each other on personal cell phones, so we didn’t have situational awareness because guys were not hearing what was going on.”
Fire Chief Mary Regan said that the proposed radio system will reduce or eliminate “dead spots” and that the new radios are waterproof “so they’ll hold up better in a fire situation.”
Police Captain Michael McCabe said the “hole in the present system” was discovered when city department began participating in interdepartmental drills, mock disasters “and those departments couldn’t communicate. The new radios make it safer for everybody and for citizens of the community, he said, and not to be able to communicate directly between the police and fire responders boggles the mind.
Police Captain Hipolito (Paul) Nunez framed the issue for the councilors.
“I can’t stress enough the need for officers on the streets to be able to communicate with dispatch and other officers,” Nunez said. “They need these radios for their safety, to make sure they get home.”
Bernashe said about $750,000 of the proposed bond will be invested into new radios and infrastructure and that while the vendor warrantees the equipment the first year, the cost of subsequent warrantee years is $75,000 with funding for four additional years included in the bond package.
The bond also includes a consulting fee for Ivan Pagacik of Macro, a Division of Russ & Baruzzini of Littleton, Mass.
Pagacik said the new system incorporates much of the old infrastructure, but that a new communication tower will be constructed in the area of West Road to eliminate lack of communications in that area. The 100-foot-high tower will be located on city land and will be next to a booster station which is already equipped with an emergency generator.
The Finance Committee members voted 2-0 and the L&O members 3-0 to give the full City Council a recommendation to approve the bond package which will require two readings at two separate City Council meetings.
