County shares info on radios

Jay County officials are considering switching local first responders to the statewide radio system.

They informed representatives from local public safety agencies about the situation Wednesday and asked for their input by the end of next month.

Ritter Strategic Services recently conducted a study for the county regarding emergency responders’ radios in Jay County. (Jay County Commissioners and Jay County Council approved a $76,400 contract with the company in December for the service.) Officials heard about the company’s findings during a joint meeting June 18 and agreed to meet with local municipalities and townships to discuss how to move forward.

Representatives across multiple departments, including Jay Emergency Medical Service director Gary Barnett, Portland Fire Chief Mike Weitzel, Redkey Fire Chief Randy Young and Jay County Sheriff Ray Newton, gathered at Jay County Courthouse on Wednesday with commissioner Rex Journay and a few council members to rehash the information.

Dylan Griffith of Ritter Strategic Services briefly noted the three different systems his company evaluated: the ultra high frequency (UHF) 900 megahertz system used by Jay County Sheriff’s Office, the standalone very high frequency (VHF) system used by Portland Police Department and the UHF system used by Jay Emergency Medical Service, Jay County Emergency Management Agency and fire departments throughout Jay County.

For all three systems, the majority of their coverage is available only if users take their radios outdoors to use them. The VHF system used by JEMS, Jay County EMA and local fire departments isn’t reachable via portable radio in portions of the southern and northeastern areas of the county. The UHF 900 megahertz system used by Jay County Sheriff’s Office stops short of the county lines, leaving a ring of uncovered areas around most of the perimeter of the county.

County officials have been looking into getting new radio equipment since 2021. According to Newton, his department’s Motorola radios are about 16 years old and replacement parts for the outdated, broken equipment aren’t available.

Griffith explained the most cost effective measure for upgrades moving forward would be to join Integrated Public Safety Commission’s 800 megahertz statewide system, which is free to use for Indiana communities. It does, however, require specific equipment to utilize, and the switch would require replacing all three of the radio systems mentioned Wednesday.

Other potential paths the county could take — they were not discussed Wednesday but they were offered as other possibilities June 19 — include reassessing the systems’ configurations, adding towers to the VHF systems to improve coverage or invest in a simulcast upgrade, which involves taking existing systems and replacing them within the same frequency band.

Migrating to Integrated Public Safety Commission’s system would make use of the radio tower in Redkey that was used when the current town hall was an Indiana State Police post. It could also involve bringing towers in Salamonia and Bryant onto the statewide system to fill out the coverage area across the county. Doing so would reduce the amount of towers Jay County would need to maintain. (Currently, emergency responders utilize towers in Bryant, Salamonia, Pennville, Dunkirk and Portland.) 

Answering a question from Portland Mayor Jeff Westlake, Griffith pointed out there’s also a tower connected to the Indiana Public Safety Commission in Union City that should help with coverage as well. Moving to the statewide system would allow the county to utilize towers in surrounding Indiana communities if they extend into the county and are connected to the system.

The overall cost to upgrade on the county’s end is estimated at roughly $3 million. Commissioner Rex Journay noted the switch would require new equipment for each department, with new portable radios expected to cost between $5,000 and $10,000 each.

He asked if representatives could communicate the information to their respective municipal councils and boards to see if they are comfortable with switching systems and if they are able to purchase the new radios themselves. He also pointed out if the county were to use American Rescue Plan Act dollars for the switch, it has six months to either spend the funds or sign a contract for necessary upgrades and equipment. Per federal guidelines, the funds must be allocated by the end of the year and work on related projects must be completed by the end of 2026. 

The county still has approximately $2,375,000 in unallocated American Rescue Plan Act dollars. County officials have been considering other options for the funding, including a countywide broadband project.

Journay asked representatives to answer back to county officials by the end of July.

“We need to move on this as quickly as possible,” he said.