Members of the agency’s board of directors voted unanimously on Wednesday to adopt an environmental impact report and move forward with the project, which is aimed at fortifying the communication system used by Marin’s emergency responders.
“This was certainly a significant milestone,” said project manager Dave Jeffries. “It allows us to begin the next key phase, which is getting the construction done and getting the system installed and implemented.”
The project is several years behind schedule, with completion expected in 2022 at the soonest, officials said. Jeffries said the agency is hoping to get construction out to bid in the spring and have it going some time in 2020. The new system, which has been in the planning stages since 2012, was initially expected to launch in 2018.
“We’re all disappointed about the delays, that’s for certain,” said Doug Kelly, a board member for the radio authority.
The first setback came when a radio frequency oversight committee raised concerns about the project design. The committee, a regional adviser to the Federal Communications Commission, said some planned antennas could interfere with radio signals in other nearby jurisdictions, forcing designers to reconfigure the project.
The radio authority hit another roadblock when a review of its contract with Motorola Solutions, signed in 2017, revealed several omissions. The contract included a cost for hundreds of new radios that will be used by emergency personnel. But the agreement made no mention of chargers for those radios — a $3.5 million oversight.
The contract also assumed the radio authority would get the antenna sites ready for installation, pushing that work off Motorola’s plate. But that was a discrepancy for the authority, among several others.
The cost of the project has risen to $68.3 million, including the roughly $43 million contract with Motorola, nearly $10 million in financing costs and other expenditures, according to Jeffries. Changes to the Motorola contract increased the cost by about $5.3 million. The authority has also opted for an extended, 15-year warranty policy on the system, which will cost an additional $9 million. But the project is still within its budget, officials said.
The system overhaul is funded by a $29-per-year parcel tax levied on properties throughout the county. The 20-year tax, which was approved by voters in 2014, is expected to raise roughly $71 million.
“We’re in financially very good shape to finance the entire project and then have some money left over for maintenance,” said board member Tom Gaffney.
The approved plans call for adding eight new antenna sites to the radio network and replacing equipment at 10 existing sites. Five sites within the existing network are set to be decommissioned.
Officials hope the overhaul will be a long-lasting upgrade to an antiquated system. The new network is expected to close coverage gaps for firefighters in some of Marin’s wildlands, and to address other inefficiencies that have been a challenge for emergency crews.
The Marin Emergency Radio Authority initiated the creation of Marin’s existing radio system in 1998. The authority, which is made up of 25 member agencies, was formed that year to plan, finance and implement the first countywide 911 network. The system cost $21.4 million and was installed after the authority issued a $30 million bond, which taxpayers are paying off through 2021.
The project was met with numerous lawsuits, which for years tied it up in legal battles. The first radios connected to the new system were installed at the San Rafael Police Department in January 2004. But by the end of the decade, the network’s inadequacies had become apparent.
The current system has a capacity limit for users and, in extreme circumstances, gets overloaded with radio traffic. In 2010, the network was expanded with five additional frequencies at a cost of about $1.6 million, but the issue has persisted due to a growing number of users.
With the advent of new technologies, manufacturers are no longer making parts compatible with Marin’s radio equipment, so fixing broken hardware in recent years has been a challenge, officials said. The radio authority has solicited parts from other jurisdictions that have upgraded their systems and sold off old equipment. Some have been purchased through eBay.
The new system is also expected to address recent changes to federal frequency requirements, which make it necessary to upgrade all radio communication networks to 700-megahertz systems.
An environmental report on the planned system overhaul concluded that the project will spoil several scenic views throughout the county, including sites in San Rafael, Mill Valley and Tomales. The report also identified potential hazards due to radio frequency exposure that would exceed Federal Communications Commission limits at three antenna sites: 1600 Los Gamos Drive in San Rafael, the Civic Center and 99 1/2 Mt. Tiburon Road.
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©2019 The Marin Independent Journal (Novato, Calif.)
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